


You did not teach me to forget you, you only taught me to love you

by Santavica



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Berlin (City), F/M, Falling In Love Again, Memory Loss, Mystery, Roma | Rome, Sao Paulo, Witches, around the world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-02-20 01:14:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2409701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Santavica/pseuds/Santavica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline has had enough of her life and the complications in Mystic Falls. So instead she decides to leave the country for a while. Out of sudden Klaus shows up and claims to be her boyfriend. She accompanies him on a search across the globe after her memories and the people responsible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Your offices of flowers, your gods of rain

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that I started nearly over a year ago. But I never got to finish it because life got in the way. This is now the improved version that I will post over the next few weeks and the final few missing chapters. But therefore the story starts at a very different point than the current season. So don't be confused. Love, Santavica

**„Your offices of flowers“**

Caroline was staring through the huge window at the life on the street unraveling in front of her. Early on she had chosen this as her favorite spot in the city. It may not have been a very original since it was essentially just a coffeehouse but it was close to her home, had great coffee and Free Wi-Fi. At least it was supposed to have Free Wi-Fi. Right now it did not work although she was trying her best to make her computer connect to the network. But it just refused to work. She sighed in frustration and started to look around for someone else with a working connection. As far as she could see no one else was struggling it seemed to be only her problem. She considered asking the cute barista for help. He had given her the extra chocolate mochaccino with an extra cute smile but he probably wasn’t going to be able to help her. He was a barista and not an IT-technician. She assumed that there was a problem with her own computer since everybody else’s seemed to be fine. She sighed again and tried another time to disconnect and reconnect the network. _Have you tried turning it off and on again?_ a sarcastic voice in her head asked.

It had not been the best of all days. She had woken up in the morning to the sound of hammering and screeching machines. Apparently the construction of the building next to her home had reached a new, even louder phase.  Even though she was on very long holidays she had gotten up at eight in the morning and had not been able to stay home any longer. She had had a quick breakfast and had left the house shortly afterwards. It had been too early in the morning to visit the museum that she had wanted to visit since her arrival in the city. It currently featured an exhibition of the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin and his lover Camille Claudel. Their relationship had not been exactly the romance of the millennium since they both reluctantly hurt the other person over the time but nonetheless stayed together for many years. After she had left him she suffered a nervous breakdown, although it was not historically verified that he played a part in that. After her visit to the museum she had eaten lunch at a small diner and then gone home to grab her computer. The noise had still been incredibly loud and she had not dwelled at her place.

Now she was sitting with her laptop on the table in front of her in the café and could not make it work. She was overdue with an E-Mail to her family and friends. They all worried so quickly about her. Considering all the things they had been through it was rather understandable.  After Elena had turned into a vampire there had been a lot going on. Tyler and the hybrids had tried to take Klaus down by themselves and had paid a bitterly price for that. After the murder of all his friends and the betrayal of Hayley, Tyler had been devastated and had not recovered from it for very long. Caroline had tried to stay with him and prove her love but all her attempts at getting closer again were shrugged off by him. He had been convinced that she and Stefan had betrayed him to Klaus in some way. After some time she had simply exploded and they had fought once too much. He had left Mystic Falls being sure that nobody cared about his cause anymore and she had not seen him since then. She had honestly tried to contact him a few times but he refused to answer her so after a while she had stopped her advances. While she had been fighting for and with Tyler, Elena had still not resolved her complicated situation with the Salvatore brothers and continued to break their hearts. Caroline tried very hard not to judge her but they both knew she would always settle on Stefan’s side considering what Damon had done to her in the past. This had put a big struggle on their friendship but Caroline still considered Elena her friend. 

To everyone’s surprise Klaus and his sister had packed their bags and left Mystic Falls. Nobody knew where they were going and nobody cared or dared to ask. Stefan had tried to contact him whether for the sake of their renewed small connection or because of Elena she did not know. She had felt sick of all the issues and problems that living in Mystic Falls had brought upon her. After they had finished their last high school year she had decided that she needed to leave the town for a while. There had seemed to be no immediate danger anymore so she did not feel guilty for leaving her friends.

For the first time in her life she left Mystic Falls to first travel around the country and then to see the wide world. She had always wanted to see the country she was currently living in. She had taken a flight from New York first to the most famous city but had realized short after the landing that she was not comfortable there. The humidity frizzed her hair and the chaotic bus lines angered her. So she traveled further south to this metropolis. And she had instantly fallen in love with the biggest city she had ever visited. The people seemed busy wherever they went but were never as annoyed and rude as business people in New York. In between the tall buildings and the huge streets lay small parks and gardens with children playing and people playing card games. Even at night the streets were buzzing with people drinking and dancing in bars. The sound of music from the different bands and DJs were mixing on the street to a unique sound that made her heart fly. After a few days she decided to stay for a longer time to explore the city thoroughly. She rented a small apartment close to one of the more alternative bar streets and started to take language classes. To her surprise she noted that since turning into a vampire it was much easier for her to learn a language. Back in school she had suffered learning French but now after less than six months she was nearly fluent.

Her computer finally decided to connect to the network although she had changed nothing in the settings. She was just about to start writing the E-Mail to her mom when she noticed someone approaching her. She ignored the person and only looked up when a small kiss was planted on her cheek. Suddenly she saw herself confronted with blue eyes and a wide smile surrounded by two dimples.

“Hello love, I thought I would find you here!”

**“Your gods of rain”**

Caroline was stunned. She was not able to utter a single word. What was he doing here? The last time she had seen him, he was speeding away from her to kill twelve hybrids. He had not said good-bye when he left Mystic Falls and had never tried to contact her again. But suddenly he was standing in front of her kissing her and talking to her like they were old friends.

When she did not answer his greeting but continued to stare at him he said: “I am sorry if I interrupted you doing something important but my meeting is already over and I thought you might want more company than just your computer.”

The familiarity with which he addressed her stunned her. After a few moments she shook of her speechlessness and said aggressively: 

“What are you doing here?”

“Caroline, I told you this morning that I had a meeting and would see you tonight. But my meeting ended earlier so I stopped by at this lovely coffee shop assuming that I would find you here. And here you are.” He answered in a patient tone that she found rather unusual for him.

“You told me this morning?” she shrieked.

He frowned: “Yes, love. When I got up and you stayed in bed to _snuggle just a little bit more._ ” He grinned at her.

She snorted. “Nice try, Klaus! But I am fairly certain that I woke up this morning to the sound of construction workers and their loud hammers and not to the sound of you getting up. Therefore I definitely did not _snuggle just a little bit more!_ ” She closed her laptop in an angry motion and started gathering her things.

“Caroline!” he exclaimed. “What are you talking about? There are no construction workers next to my building. Maybe you dreamt it.”

“Your building?” she said annoyed while getting up to leave. “I was definitely not in your building this morning. I was sleeping alone in my own bed in my own apartment in my own building!” She grabbed her bag and passed around the other side of the table to leave the coffeehouse. He tried to stop her by catching her arm. He did not use force but still stopped her. She looked at his hand on her arm and was overcome by the feeling of having this situation experienced before. She shook of the dejá-vu and his hand and walked towards the exit. She heard him call her name but he did not try to stop her from walking out of the door and away from him.

She walked down the avenue as quickly as she was able in her black pumps. What the hell was he thinking? She had not heard from him in over six months and she had not expected to hear from him anytime soon. Although she was aware of his small infatuation with here she had never assumed it was anything serious especially not after he had left the town without saying goodbye.  It had become clear to her after he left that although she had secretly enjoyed his admiration she would have never given in to it. Too many things had happened that could not be forgiven. But suddenly he turned up here in her new city and claimed that she had woken up in his bed this morning. Thinking about it she realized it had sounded as if that had not been a once-in-a –lifetime-experience. It had sounded like she would wake up every morning next to him as if they were a couple. She snorted at his ridiculous attempt to get her interest. She did not deny that there had been a certain attraction to him when they were still in Mystic Falls but she was way over that. Hell, she was in a country were having only having blonde hair made you attractive by definition. She did not need Klaus Mikaelson to feel admired and to have fun.

Suddenly she felt hungry as if the meeting with Klaus had reminded her that she was no ordinary young woman but a vampire whose diet differentiated from a mere humans. She had not checked her blood stack this morning but she was fairly certain it was diminishing. Therefore she decided to make a quick visit to the closest hospital. It was one of the private more fancy ones that had even security. She secretly chuckled to herself. Even if they knew who she was and what she wanted they could not stop her. She decided to try to charm her way into the hospital instead of using compulsion immediately. From time to time she enjoyed the fact that even without the compulsion she could make a man do whatever she wanted. This time it was no different.

“Hello, I am here to visit my friend Anna. She has been here since yesterday.” She said in a perfect speech with a smile on her face. The attendant looked at her admiringly and it took him a moment to get started searching in his computer.

“I am sorry but there is no patient with the name Anna that was admitted yesterday.” He told her after a while.

She pouted and said: “Are you sure? Maybe it is a different name. You know she does not speak the language very well and maybe somebody got her name wrong. She does not know anybody in the city except me and is probably very lonely now. I just want to visit her quickly.”

He nodded and then looked at the innocent looking girl in front of him. She seemed like a foreigner too and rather young. What problems could she make? He held out his hands to her and asked for her papers. She was already sick of her little game and simply used compulsion on him to let her enter the patient’s floor. She was no big fan of hospitals. The smell of disinfection and sickness repulsed her but it was necessary for her current diet. She quickly located the blood storage room and packed some of the bags into her purse. She waited a little bit and waved to the attendant when she left the building. He waved back and smiled happy that she had remembered him. In a much better mood she started to descend the hill towards her home.

“Since when are you back on blood bags?” asked her a voice right next to her suddenly. She did not need to move her head to know it was Klaus who had apparently followed her to the hospital and made his own conclusions.

“When have I ever fed of something else except the occasional animal?” she asked him back in a more than annoyed tone.

“Caroline, in the past few months you have not fed of a blood bag. We have always found a better way to nourish ourselves.” He grinned at her clearly enjoying that thought. It took her a moment to realize what he meant. “I have most definitely not fed of a human. At least not like that and I have absolutely not been feeding together with you!”

He grabbed her arm again and turned her to face him. This time he was actually using some of his supernatural strength but still without hurting her. He looked her in the face and growled slightly: “Caroline, this was funny and interesting for a while but if you want to do a role play where I have to chase you, you might want to tell me before. Otherwise I might take this the wrong way.”

“Role playing? Are you crazy? I have not seen you in over half a year and I don’t know what is going on with you but I am also not very interested to find out.”

He starred at her: “We have been spending the past six months together. We met when you had just arrived in the country and decided to hate it. I tried to convince you of the contrary and showed you this city. You instantly fell in love with it. You know all that and everything else that happened between us. What is going on with you?”

“What is going on with me?” she screamed. “You are obviously making up stories to confuse me. I have been spending my time alone in this city and have been exploring it alone. You had no impact on that! I have not seen you in six months and I had hoped it would stay that way.”

She jerked her arm away from him and started running towards home. She left behind an utterly confused original.

When she arrived at her building she was secretly happy that her doorman recognized her and let her in without hesitation. In the elevator she met Mrs. Juliana Silva an elderly lady with an unknown number of cats who lived in the apartment below hers. She greeted her.

“Hello, Mrs. Juliana. How are you today?”

“Well thank you Caroline I am very well. I haven’t seen you in a while. You seem to have spent quite some time at your boyfriend’s apartment.” She gave her a secretive little smile.

“My boyfriend’s home? I beg you pardon, you must have me confused with someone else. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, so that nice young blonde man is not your boyfriend? Well, I am sorry but with you young people one may never know what is a relationship and what is not.” The elevator stopped on the seventh floor and Mrs. Juliana  left the elevator calling: “Have a nice day, Caroline!”

Caroline stood in the elevator and was completely confused. What had just happened?


	2. When I arrived here I could not understand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And on we go in Sao Paulo City!

Caroline di not fall asleep easily that night. She was haunted by thoughts of sudden meeting with Klaus. But even more uneasy was she about what he had claimed to know about the past months. Mrs. Juliana had said she remembered a blonde young man that was so many times here that she assumed him to be Caroline’s boyfriend. For any other girl this could have been the explanation but this is where it got tricky for her. Caroline did know a lot of people and some of the guys were even blonde but none of them had ever visited her at home. She did not know what to make of her thoughts. She finally fell asleep after she had successfully convinced herself that her neighbor had her confused with somebody else. There lived a lot of people in this building and maybe she had a doppelgänger next door. That thought made her smirk. Klaus would definitely like that. Maybe that was even the person he had been getting close to. Well, she thought shortly before falling asleep, that would have been the first time that an identity thief had done some good.

Once again she woke up to the sound of the machines outside her house. She considered for a short moment to go outside and compel the construction workers to stop what they were doing and let her sleep. But she knew the consequences this kind of behavior would have for the workers. If she just snuggled a little bit more maybe she could ignore the sound. The thought of snuggling brought her back to what Klaus had said yesterday. She could not believe that she had even considered believing anything of it. Since she was awake anyway she decided to get up and have breakfast. She yearned for a strong coffee.

Caroline had never had a steady job in Mysitic Falls since she had always been a student. But here she had to sustain herself and she did not feel comfortable with the thought of using compulsion for everything. During the past months she had worked at several places. She wasn’t in need of a lot of money. She had to pay her rent and some groceries like coffee and the occasional drink. At the moment she was working 12 hours a week at a café near her home. It was cozy and small and only open in the afternoon. She loved the smell of coffee that always hung in the air. The cakes were not really to her liking since she was more a cookie kind of girl but she occasionally took some left overs home. Today she was looking especially forward to her work at the café since it would take her mind of what had happened yesterday. She spent her morning walking through the city and reading on a bench in a small park close to her home. Her employer an elderly lady called Inês liked it when she came already half an hour earlier into work and helped her prepare the first round of coffee and the counter with the cake and pie.

Work at the café was rarely exhausting during the week and it was a normal Thursday afternoon with few customers. Caroline was relaxed and happy until she saw Klaus walking in. He looked around for her. He waved to her and when she did not wave back he shrugged and sat at an empty table close to the window. She ignored him for the next ten minutes although he followed her with his eyes everywhere she went.

“Did the young man over the order already?” asked Inês all of sudden. Caroline jumped a little bit. She had been standing next to the counter and had waited for someone to signal her that he needed something.

“Who?” asked Caroline in an innocent voice.

“The blonde one who has been starring at you all the time, my dear Caroline!” said Inês chuckling. Caroline pretended that she had just spotted him, smiled at Inês and went over to Klaus table.

“I already thought you would never take my order. This way this café will never get a good online rating.” said Klaus smirking when she arrived at his table.

“What can I get you?” asked Caroline in her waitress voice that she always used for customers that looked like they were going to be difficult.

“Are you not going to ask me how I knew where you worked?” asked Klaus.

“I’d rather not know. It is probably going to creep me out.” answered Caroline honestly.

“Well, I am going to tell you anyway.” Klaus insisted. Caroline rolled her eyes and hopes that Inês was not listening in. Her English was not perfect but she would probably understand most of what was said. "I know where you work because I have been picking you up from work for the past few weeks nearly every day. Your boss name is Inês and the best pie here is the strawberry-chocolate cake that you sometimes take home because you know I like it very much. I can also tell you your salary or the exact day you started working here.” He grinned satisfied at her.

“Well,” she said mockingly “it is great that you took the effort to google this place and the average waitress salary in the city but I still do not have any memory of having met you here. Therefore I am still convinced that you are lying. Now, what can I get you? Maybe a piece of strawberry-chocolate-cake?”

He smiled: “Well, I obviously have not convinced you of our joint past. I have no idea what happened to you but I can assure you I will make you remember.” For a second she saw a suggestive grin on his face that immediately morphed into an affectionate smile. “And yes, I would love a piece of strawberry-chocolate-cake and a cup of coffee.”

She wrote down his order and turned to leave. Then she looked at him over her shoulder and said: “Did you ever consider that maybe you are wrong and are imagining things? Because I am definitely not!”

She served him his coffee and cake and went back to the counter. She hesitated for a second and then asked Inês: “Have you ever seen that customer? He said he has been coming here a lot lately!” She could here Klaus chuckle slightly on the other side of the room. Of course he had been listening in with his vampire hearing. Inês took another closer look at him and shook her head: “No, I would have remembered him if he had been here. I have never seen this man.” All of the sudden Klaus chuckle died away.

Over the next few days Klaus seemed to be everywhere Caroline went. It was as if he had learned her schedule and all her favorite places. He appeared at her favorite bookshop, her preferred restaurant, walking in the small park close to her house and even in the drugstore where she bought her shampoo. He never made any kind of advances towards her but he was like a shadow she could not get rid of. Everywhere they met he tried to talk to her and after a while she got tired of putting him down. Every time they talked he would include personal details about her last few months in the conversation. There were things that only she knew or that could have been only known by someone who accompanied her on her trips through the city.  He knew of her attempts to start Yoga, but there were only classes in the morning at eight and so she only went once and he talked of that crazy night where she had ended up dancing on the table of a gay bar. He knew which movies she had seen in the past six months and whether she had liked them or not. She was starting to get spooked by what he told her yet still refused to believe what he said.

Although he seemed to know so much about her he suffered severe setbacks whenever he claimed that someone had seen them together. Except Mrs. Juliana nobody seemed to remember seeing them together at any place.

She did not even notice how much time she was actually spending with him until she got a call from a friend asking her to go out with him and his friends. It was Friday night and Caroline realized that she had not seen anybody except Klaus in the past two weeks. She cursed herself for not reacting earlier and accepted the invitation gladly. After work on Friday she went home to get ready to go out with her friends. She knew that she still had lots of time before leaving but she loved the feeling of getting ready and preparing herself for a night out. She took a long relaxing shower using her favorite body wash called “Humor” which always made her smile when reading and smelling it. Since she lived alone and nobody could look inside her bedroom she dried herself and left her towel in the bathroom. Naked she walked in her room and looked at herself in the mirror. She was glad she had been turned at a good point in her life when she was thin and beautiful. Suddenly she noticed a movement in the mirror and turning around she saw Klaus in a corner of her room smirking at her. Suddenly she realized she was buck naked and speeded back into the bathroom cursing out loud. With her huge towel wrapped around her body she came back to her bedroom where Klaus had seated himself on her bed and was trying to look as innocent as possible.

“What the hell were you thinking? You can’t just come in here without being invited.” She shouted at him. His grinned just resurfaced on his face: “Relax, love. It’s not like I haven’t seen you like that. But I am glad that you refreshed my memory on this subject.” Suddenly he had to duck away because Caroline had thrown a pen at him. He was prepared for the next one and caught it before it could penetrate his chest. “Well, sweetheart, that is not how you greet a surprise guest. Why don’t you give me hug instead?” He started laughing.

“I’ll give you something if you only think about coming closer to me. I don’t care what you imagined in your fantasy what we have done I can assure you that you have never seen me naked with my consent. Therefore I assume that you are just another spying pervert who sits at night in a girl’s window and watches her change.”

Klaus looked seriously offended but then said with a suggestive look in his eyes: “I swear to you that the only times I have seen you naked I always had your full consent. I think you generally called out your consent and my name quite loud.”

Caroline blushed a little bit at his insinuation. She knew she was loud but until this moment no one had ever complained. As if he could read her thoughts he added: “Not that I am complaining, I like women who know what they want.” Again he grinned at her.

She shook her head to get rid of the thought of them in bed. She knew he was a good kisser even if she had only kissed him in Tyler’s body. If that was a sign for the rest of his performance than I have been a lucky girl, she thought. She immediately dismissed that thought. With all his talking she actually started to believe what he was saying which was ridiculous. She suddenly realized that she was still only wearing a towel while he watched her intensely.

“Seriously, what the hell are you doing here? Why can you just come in? I mean you can’t just come in. That is not okay!” She concluded lamely.

“Well, first off all, I don’t have to be invited in because only a vampire lives here even if it’s a rather lovely one like you. Second I wanted to talk to you about tonight’s program and ask you if you would like to go dancing with me.” He smiled at her.

“Well, first of all,” she mocked him “you can’t just walk in here whenever you feel like it. It doesn’t matter if I am a vampire or not. It is simply rude. And second: No, I do not want to go dancing with you tonight. I am going out with a few friends of mine. And even if I wasn’t I would not want to go out with you!”

“Well sweetheart, that is very sad but I of course respect your choice. I’ll be off then. I’ll see you soon.” With that he got up and jumped out of the window as if she was living on the first and not on the eighth floor. She shook her head being quite certain that before the night was over she would see him again.


	3. The discreet non-elegance of your girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some dancing, some memories and the beginning of a lot of trouble for Miss Forbes...

After Klaus had left Caroline closed all her windows and her lilac curtains. She was not sure if he wasn’t still outside watching here. She felt a slight discomfort at the thought that he had seen her completely naked even if it had been for only a few seconds. She rather not thought about what he had said concerning their sex life. If she really had slept with Klaus the most dangerous being on this planet she would have preferred to at least remember it. But she hadn’t slept with him, she reminded herself.

When she was finally ready she complimented herself on her look. She was wearing only a small make-up where the only powerful color was the red of her lips. The name of the lipstick color was blood red a fact that she had found very amusing when buying. Her hair was falling down in big waves and grazed her back. She was wearing a midnight blue dress that was covered in lace and had a belt around her hips that exactly matched the color of her lipstick. The dress was not too short but still showed of her long slender legs especially when using the sexy red high-heels that she had bought a few weeks ago. She had not had the chance to use them but it had been love at first sight in the store window.

She arrived fashionably late to her friends place as it was custom but she was still not the last one to be at the apartment. She greeted her friends with a kiss on the right cheek as it was common and greeted everyone she was introduced to the same way. After a while she was surrounded by nice people that she enjoyed talking to and always had her glass refilled with drinks. She was no great fan of beer so she preferred the harder drinks they were preparing. But being a vampire her tolerance was far bigger than that of any of the guys at the place. Still she enjoyed herself immensely and agreed enthusiastically to the suggestion of leaving the party to go dancing. They split into small groups to share cabs to the club.

As in most of the fancier clubs in the city the DJ played mostly electronic music but Caroline deeply loved the fast rhythms and the bass that crept under her skin and gave her heart a new beat. Entering the club she immediately stormed the dance floor with some of the other girls. Victor who had invited her and most of the others went straight to the bar to get drinks. He put a drink in her hand and smiled at her. She returned the smile but made sure to keep a certain space between them when he started dancing with her. He respected her wish for distance and kept dancing relaxed at her side. While swaying her hips to a slower rhythm Caroline felt two hands sneak around her waist and someone trying to swing with her. Her first thought was of Klaus but she realized in very few seconds that this was somebody else. She tried to take his hands of her. Unfortunately she was already a little bit too intoxicated to control her strength properly and ended up gripping his hand much harder than she thought. He stepped back from her with a curse and threw her a bad look while trying to shake of the pain of his hands. She considered apologizing but figured he would survive. Victor had watched the scene anxiously but had visibly relaxed now.

“Don’t we all enjoy a little bit of violence from time to time.” A voice whispered in her ear and Caroline knew that he had found her. He did not touch her but she could still feel his presence. Victor was watching her again intensely.

“Is that a friend of yours or another potential victim of a Caroline Forbes handshake?” Klaus asked still whispering in her ear. “If you need a charming knight to your rescue just call me.” He chuckled.

She finally turned to him: “Thank you, but I can take care of myself. I am by no means a little damsel in distress and you know that.”

He smiled:” Of course, love. I know that.”  She only realized in that moment how close she was standing to him now that she had turned around. She could not back off since the crowd had immediately closed the space she had been occupying before.

“I think I need another drink!” She said out loud. “Please, let me at least get you a drink.” Klaus asked. She nodded and before she could say what she wanted he was off in the crowd. She was sure he would find her again. She turned around to face Victor again. He looked at her questioningly which she shrugged off. Suddenly she felt herself dragged away through the crowd. Klaus had gotten a hold of her arm and was walking towards the bar.

“What the hell, Klaus?”

“The barkeeper remembers us!” He said excited. She shuddered. Every time he reminded her of his theory that they had been together for the past months she felt like fleeing and staying at the same time. The simple thought that she could have forgotten the events like that scared her nearly as much as the possibility of having possibly been in love with Klaus.

The barkeeper smiled at her. He was good looking if you were into the more alternative kind of man. He nodded at her and gave her a strawberry margarita. It was indeed her favorite drink but that did not prove anything. Klaus seemed to know all of these things.

“So?” Klaus said impatiently to the barkeeper.

“Sure, I remember you too. You were sitting at this very bar a few times over the past couple of months and were blocking everybody else’s access to the bar. But at least you guys gave a good show.” He grinned at Caroline who felt her face turn red again.

Caroline was still not convinced. She used her compulsion on the barkeeper and asked again: “Are you sure it was me? I mean there are some other blonde girls here and this young man next to me is not very picky.” Klaus growled at her.

The barkeeper gave her another thorough look before he grinned again. “Nope, I am very sure that it was you. I remember such a pretty face always even if it was hidden most of the time beneath a different face.” Apparently Klaus was happy with his answer and pulled her away from the still smirking barkeeper. He dragged her into the crowd until they were not visible from the bar anymore.

“I’ve told you so.” He said satisfied. It was good that she had vampire hearing otherwise she would not have heard him talk. She still could not believe what she had just heard. It was so unlikely that she would forget something like this and not remember one moment with him in the past days. But the barkeeper had told the truth under her compulsion or what he thought was the truth. Her head began to hurt and to turn into squish if from the confusion with Klaus or her immense alcohol consume she did not know.

“I need to get out of here.” She said to Klaus. He nodded and tried to follow her. She stopped him: “No, I need a moment to think and some air. I will be right back. Don’t worry I can take care of myself.” He looked at her for a moment as if contemplating his chances of arguing with her but eventually backed off and let her go.

Outside she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. It was absolutely impossible to forget something like that. It must have changed her life or otherwise she would have never agreed to go out with him in the first place. What had her friends said to those news? Had she even told them? She knew how Elena and Bonnie thought about Klaus. Maybe Stefan would have understood but she clearly hadn’t said anything to anyone. How could she have forgotten a relationship with Klaus Mikaelson? A relationship that obviously also involved sexual relations and apparently a huge part of making out with each other in a random club in front of the bar.

Suddenly it hit her. The only way of making her forget something like that was compulsion. But a normal vampire could not compel another vampire. That cut down the list of her suspects to a very small group that consisted solemnly of Klaus family. Rebecca clearly hated her and after Klaus had staked her again she was not his biggest fan that was sure. Elijah seemed above these kinds of schemes unless it was for the greater good of his family. But how could making Klaus miserable be for the greater good of the family? She did not know enough about Kol to make her mind up about his reasons but he probably had some reasons to hate his brothers. They all had. Still it seemed like a lot of effort to not only compel her but everybody around her to forget having seen them together. She felt like she should discuss this with Klaus. He had until this point never mentioned a theory of how she forgot their relationship. She took another deep breath of the fresh night air.

Suddenly she heard an unknown voice next to her. “Hello, Beautiful! Someone like you should not be standing alone outside in the middle of the night.” It took her a few seconds to realize the tall man next to her was talking to her. She grinned: “Don’t worry I can defend myself.” Her grin disappeared quickly. Something was off about the guy but she could not tell what it was.

“Are you sure baby? If you need someone to protect you just tell me.” He came closer to her and she backed away. “Thank you but I am really fine. I was just about to go back in. My boyfriend is probably already kind of worried. He worries a lot, you know?” The lie had come out naturally and without much thought. “Well,” the man said “unfortunately I can’t let you go back to Klaus. We still have some issues to settle with him.”

 

Out of the shadow beside him came more men that were just as tall as he and all stared at her. She tried to use her vampire speed to rush away but they grabbed her by the arms before she could rush away. Now that she was standing so close to them she noticed their smell. How could she not have sniffed them out before? They were clearly werewolves and all of them were obviously pretty pissed. Caroline had her fair share of adventures with werewolves over the past years starting with Jules capturing her, over Tyler biting her until Klaus killed all his unsired hybrids. But these werewolves were different from everyone she had met before. It seemed like they had embraced their nature much better than everybody else and to her they seemed to stink of rage.

“What do you want from me?” She said. “I don’t know Klaus that well and I am not his girlfriend. I was talking about somebody else.”

“You are not his girlfriend? I can’t say I am not glad to hear you broke up. You are much to pretty for a twisted soul like Klaus.” The first man said and added in a much angrier tone: “But unfortunately you were still his girlfriend when he attacked my pack a few weeks ago. I saw you with him. We just want a little bit of revenge. And you are going to help us with that.”

Caroline was unable to say anything. What the hell had Klaus done this time? Whatever it was she refused to be involved in it. She tried to shake of the hand holding her. He just clutched her arm harder. If she hadn’t been a vampire he would have probably broken it by now. She hissed at the guy and he gave her a dirty fierce grin.

“Look, whoever you think I am I am not. I am not Klaus girlfriend and I have never been. This is all a big misunderstanding. I have never done anything to your pack.” She tried to reason with the first man who seemed to be the leader of the pack.

“Well, Caroline” he said and she made a surprised sound, “I don’t care how you label your relationship or whatever it is. To me you are his girlfriend when you watch him kill some newly turned pubs and do not interfere.”

Caroline starred at him. She had not done that. Even if she had lost the memory of it she couldn’t imagine herself not interfering. She was scared of Klaus when he was angry. But could she have been that scared? Klaus only talked about all the nice things they had done together in his memories and had never mentioned something like this.

“I am sorry about what happened to your pack. I swear but I was not there. Please leave me out of this!” She pleaded. He ignored her plea and before Caroline could react she felt vervain being injected in her veins and started feeling a burning pain inside her. Then she passed out.


	4. The rough poetry of your corners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble here we come!

Caroline woke up in the dark. Even with her enhanced senses she could not pierce through the darkness. She still felt weak and her whole body hurt. The last thing she remembered was meeting the werewolf pack outside of the club. Suddenly every memory of last night and realization came crashing down at her. She had watched Klaus kill werewolves and had not intervened. Had she? Her head was spinning from the different possibilities. She tried to set her thoughts straight. If she really had been with Klaus for the past six months had she turned into a monster like him? He had first hinted that she drank from the vein, than at rather dirty sex and now this. She didn’t understand herself anymore. She sighed.

“Good, you are awake.” A male voice said somewhere in the room. Caroline jumped up and tried to figure out where the voice had come from. She could not see but her other senses were still heightened. Her body was under pressure and had automatically moved into a defensive position.

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t hurt you even if I could reach you. I am not interested in killing someone from my own kind.” The man said. He had a pretty heavy native accent.

“Who are you?” Caroline asked cautiously in his native language. From what she could hear the other person was on the opposite side of the room which seemed judging from the resonance to be rather spacious and empty.

“I am Pedro.”

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why are you here?”

“I pissed of the wrong pack. I got into a fight with one of the pubs in a bar. I accidently killed him not knowing that the rest of the bar was filled with his brothers, cousins and the rest of the gang. They beat me up and then vervained me quicker than I could react. I woke up here.”

“How long have you been here?”

“I don’t know. It is always dark here. I can’t count the days. A while I suppose.”

Caroline stopped to think for a moment. If he had been in here a while without anybody entering he must be pretty starved by now. She did not want to take the risk of him attacking here although it would not give him much more strength.

“Is there a way out of this place?” She asked in hope of a practical answer.

He actually laughed at her question. It was a throaty raspy laugh. It reminded her of the way Damon had sounded when Stefan had put him away after killing Coach Tanner. Pedro must have been here a very long time. “There is no way out, princess. The walls are painted with paint mixed with vervain. Try not to get too close to them. From time to time the door is opened to check if I am already deceased to a mummy. But of course they only open it during the day so there is no chance of escape.” He concluded resigned.

Caroline hastily checked if she still had her daylightring on. It was still wrapped around her finger. She sighed in relief. At least that was an advantage she had that they did not know about. Although he had warned her she tried to find the wall. As soon as it collided with her fingers she jumped back from the stinging pain of the vervain. She took of her shoes and began exploring the walls with her shoe touching the wall. Finally her shoe collided with something metallic. She assumed that she had found the door. She touched the door only with her pinky finger and jerked it back immediately. The door was painted with vervain paint as well.

She finished her round passing Pedro on the way who lay on the floor without moving. She assumed he did not want to spend more energy than he already had. She did not stay near him afraid that he might do something to her in his last moving moments.

Reaching the wall where she had started she sat down again far away from the wall.

“I am Caroline, by the way.” She tried to start the conversation again. She heard him stir at his side of the room.

“Caroline, as in Klaus’ girlfriend Caroline?” He asked surprised. She snorted. “I am not his girlfriend and I don’t know why everybody believes that!”

“Whether you are his girlfriend or not if this pack believes you are, you are in deep shit, princess.” He actually laughed his throaty laugh again.

“What is that supposed to mean? I didn’t do anything. What happened?” Caroline asked annoyed and confused at the same time.

“Well, this is a small community of supernatural beings. We may not like each other very much but we hear what is going on around us. A few weeks ago Klaus arrived at this werewolf pack when a part of the warriors were out. Nobody knows what he wanted but when he didn’t get it he started killing people until there were only few left to tell the story. Then he left the pack without saying another word. They say that he was accompanied by a pretty blonde vampire who did not participate but still watched him go crazy on the pack. At the same time there were rumors of Klaus being with a vampire girl named Caroline living in the city. We all just put two and two together.”

Caroline gasped. She could not believe this, what the hell had Klaus done? And why did everybody think that she was involved in it. She hated not knowing what was going on. She did not know how much time had passed since she had left Klaus in the club but he must have noticed that she didn’t come back. She would actually be pretty happy to see him right now. If she ever got out of this mess she would definitely question him about what had happened between them. She could not deny anymore that something had happened since everybody, well not everybody, but many people remembered her together with Klaus. Unfortunately only the people that hated his guts seemed to remember them. Great!

Suddenly she heard a noise outside the door. Somebody was turning a key in the door.

“Stay away from the door. There is direct sun on this door and I would not want you to already exhaust yourself before I have even begun to enjoy this. I am also holding a gun with wooden bullets, so don’t try me.” An unfamiliar voice said.

The door opened slowly and sunlight flowed into the room. Pedro began to crouch as far away from the rays as possible. Caroline pretended to be fleeing from the sunlight as well. There was no need to let her opponent know her secret. When she looked up she saw a man that was equally tall as the ones from last night. He looked at her with a sign of absolute disgust on his face.

“You must be Caroline. Well, catching you was easier than we thought. Who thought that you would be as careless as going out on the street by yourself?” He said to her.

“Who are you?” asked Caroline.

“You know that. We have met before. I tried to be polite to Klaus telling him to back of my territory but he only laughed in my face. You were standing next to him smiling.”

“That wasn’t me! I’ve been trying to tell everybody that I am not his girlfriend and have never been. Please let me go, I have nothing to do with Klaus and you.” She begged him.

“Liar!” he shouted at her. “I saw you. I smelled you. I don’t forget a smell that easily.”

“I swear,” she began again but he triggered his gun and shot a bullet through her shoulder. She started screaming and cursing. This was so unfair. She hadn’t done anything. Yet still she was the one getting shot. She felt the bullet working its way out of her body and that hurt nearly as much as when it came into her body. She looked at the man who had still pointed his gun at her. His face was full of satisfaction and he obviously enjoyed watching her in pain. At the sight of this something snapped in her. She threw herself at him and knocked the gun out of his hands. He was surprised at her move since he hadn’t expected her to be able to move in the sunlight. She knew she had to use this moment to her advantage. Without thinking she pushed her hands inside his chest and closed a fist around his beating heart. He stopped moving underneath her and just starred at her. She was sitting on top of him and under different circumstances the position might have looked compromising but right now he was plainly scared.

Caroline put more pressure on the hand around his heart. “Who are you and what do you want from me?”

“My name is Alexandre. I am the leader of this pack. I need you as bait to get revenge for Klaus.” He was clearly scared for his own life and kept starring at his chest were Caroline’s hand was buried.

“Why Klaus? What did he want from you that made him so furious?”

“I don’t know,” he said. He coughed when she put even more pressure on his heart. “Wait, wait! He wanted to know the location of someone we are protecting. But nobody who was here could tell him because they did not know.”

“Who?” she asked impatiently. “Who is he looking for?”

“His name is Shane. I don’t know what Klaus wants from him. I swear!”

“Shane? Professor Shane?”

“I really don’t know more. We got the order to protect him if he ever passes through our lands. He is gone now. He already left months ago. I don’t know more.” He was still frightened and kept starring at her hand in his chest.

Caroline hesitated for a moment. She had all the information he could give her. She could easily kill him and something inside of her screamed for her to do it but she fought the thought. With her free hand she slammed his head on the floor making him immediately loose conscious. She pulled her hand out of his chest. She was confused that nobody seemed to have heard their small conversation. For the first time she looked up to see if somebody was watching her but nobody seemed to be around. There were no guards and nobody watching the building she had been kept. Clearly they did not know that some vampires could walk in the sun. She smiled to herself about her advantage. The whole process of talking to Aexandre took her less than two minutes and now she had to escape from here. Unfortunately she had no idea where she was. She pulled Alexandre’s unconscious body into the room. Suddenly she remembered Pedro the other vampire. If she left Alexandre in there he would probably attack him as soon as she closed the door. She contemplated with herself for a few seconds. But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a voice calling his name. She had already lost too much time thinking about this. Deciding that her freedom was more important and secretly hoping that Pedro was really not able to move anymore she left the huge werewolf in the room and hurried outside. She closed the heavy iron door that was fortunately not painted with vervain paint from the outside and took a deep breath.

Scanning her surroundings she realized she was in a warehouse complex. All around her were big windowless buildings but she could see nobody around neither supernatural nor ordinary human. She decided to make her way along the building trying to find the exit or a sign that told her where she was. Someone called Alexandre again and this time the voice was much closer. Caroline decided not to linger and went to find an exit. After a few minutes of searching she finally found a sign that pointed to the exit. She followed the signs and started hearing more voices. Suddenly she realized how suspicious she looked with Alexandre’s blood all over her right hand and on her clothes and a bullet hole in her upper right sleeve. Since it was a Saturday there were very few people working but there were still some. She looked around the next corner and saw a gate with barbed wire fence on top. In front of it stood three guards that were talking to each other. From this distance she could not tell if they were werewolves or regular humans. Three humans would not have been a problem but dealing with three werewolves was not what she wanted right now. She was wounded and hadn’t fed since Wednesday. But she seemed to be lucky since two of the guards started walking away from the gate in opposite directions. She seized the opportunity and ran towards the last guard. He had his backs to her and did not see her coming. When she got closer she could smell that he was no werewolf. She knocked him over and broke out through the gate. 

She ran for another few minutes away from the place until she was sure that nobody was following her. She seemed to be in an industrial area of the city that she had never seen before. She stopped and started thinking about how she would get back to her place from here.

“And here I thought I might come to your rescue but it seems that you don’t need rescuing after all.” A familiar voice said behind her. She turned around and saw him smirking at her looking satisfied about something as always. Without thinking she launched herself at him. He was surprised that for a small moment she caught him off balance and they landed on the floor with her on top. He immediately turned them around and pinned her hands to the ground.

“What was that about, love?  Told you I was coming to rescue you. It just took me a while to find this place.”

“You ass! I was brought here in the first place because of you! What the hell did you do and why are you looking for Professor Shane?”

“Oh, so did you figure that out by yourself or are you suddenly remembering?” He asked her in a curious tone.

“I had to dig my hands into someone’s chest to figure that out. I nearly crushed a heart.” She screamed agonized in his face.

“Well, love, that sounds terribly sexy. I am very sorry I was not there to witness it. Maybe we can repeat the experience?” He smirked.

She could not believe what she was hearing. He did not even remotely answer her questions and did not look like he was about to. She struggled underneath him and tried to get her hands free. She really wanted to slap the shit out of him.

“Answer my questions!” She ordered him.

“Well, aren’t we feisty today? I like it. That it reminds me of good times we had together.” Suddenly he leaned into her and kissed her.


	5. When we are face to face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where to next?

At first she was surprised by the touch of his astonishingly soft lips against her own. She had not expected this. Then she realized what was happening and started kicking her legs and trying to get him off her. To her surprise he raised his head so their lips weren’t touching anymore. Yet still he kept their faces close together as if he was still considering continuing where he had stopped.

“Maybe this was a bad moment. But I remember that fleeing had a stimulating effect on you.” He looked down at her with his trademark grin. She could not believe he had the nerves to bring that up.

“Well, that had nothing to do with you. I was just happy to see Tyler alive. You on the other hand I am not so sure.”

“Now love, let’s not be rude. I told you I was just coming to rescue you.”

“And you haven’t told me anything else. Or answered any of my questions why I was here in the first place. It is not like I stayed in a five star resort in the past hours.”

“I am glad to hear you have not lost your humor together with your memories. If I let go of your arms will you please not try to tackle me again. I would hate having to hurt you.”

“Trying to tackle you? I made you fall down!” She exclaimed but when he looked down at her frowning and did not let go of her hands she added: “As long as you don’t try to kiss me again I can try to behave as well.”

Again he grinned: “Well, although maybe that would be worth the anger I am just going to wait till you come to me.” With that he got up and held her his hand to help get up. She ignored his help and got up on her own rather not so elegantly. She tried to rub the dirt of her dress but did not succeed very well. Only now she noticed that he was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Maybe he had really spent the night looking for her.

He looked around: “We should probably get going. The werewolves might have noticed your disappearance by now.”

She nodded. “I really hope you know where we are and have a car nearby. I am really not in the mood to walk.”

He mustered her. “You are right, you look awful, love. I luckily happen to know where we are. Come on, love, I’ll find us a car.”

He started walking and she slowly followed him. Only now she realized how tired and exhausted she was. She hoped that they would find a car soon and leave this terrible place.

They had walked roughly ten minutes when they arrive at a parking space. There were few cars parked and even fewer people visible. Klaus picked the one closest to them.

“Excuse me, Sir.” He called out to the man. The man turned and Klaus rushed to be in front of him. His pupils got smaller when he used his compulsion: “Which one is your car?” The man pointed to a small blue Volkswagen a few meters away. Klaus rolled his eyes. He had hoped for something better but one look at the exhausted Caroline told him that he could not be picky.

“You are going to give me the car keys and let me drive away with the car. You are not going to scream. You will not follow us or give a description to the police. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.” The man said. Klaus contemplate about taking him with them as a snack but one look at Caroline told him he should not push her any farther than she had been pushed today. He nodded to the car the man had pointed at and took the car keys. They walked to the car in silence and entered it. Caroline let her head fall against the window.

“Try to get some sleep in the car, love. It is quite a journey. I will make sure that nothing happens to you. “ She wasn’t sure if he wasn’t the one thing she was afraid of in this car but before she could finish this thought or before he had even pulled out of the parking lot she had fallen asleep.

She only woke up when the car had stopped and he shook her shoulder lightly. “We are at you house. I want you to go in, pack some essentials and then you are coming with me.”

It took her a while to wake up and understand what he had just said but the she shook her head. “I will go in there but not come out again. I am not going with you. Why would I do that?”

He seemed only slightly angry as if he had been expecting her answer to be like that. He scolded her: “I am just trying to keep you safe, Caroline! They will discover very soon where you live and I don’t think you want to be here when they come. As much as these werewolves are not very difficult enemies they tend to travel in packs. And although I trust you to be a fighter I am reminding you that one werewolf bite can end your cute little life very fast. And maybe I am not going to be around when that happens. I have plans to travel.”

She gave him an angry glare. There was no need in reminding her of the disaster of Tyler’s bite. He himself had saved her but she didn’t need to be reminded of the pain and her fear of dying so young and undeserved. Without another word she got out of the car and slammed the car door behind her. She heard Klaus opening his door and following her. Opening her front door quickly, she slipped through it and shot it in front of Klaus face. From outside she could hear him shout her name. She knew that the door could not keep him out very long but the action itself gave her a certain satisfaction. She rode the elevator until the eighth floor and opened her door. When she entered the living room a pissed looking Klaus was already standing on her balcony. He knocked against the window and motioned her to let himself in. She made a show of thinking about it until she was sure he was going to batter her window. Finally she opened the door and let him in.

“That was absolutely unnecessary and childish, Caroline!” He said annoyed.

“After all I am still a baby vampire compared to your ten thousand years.” He shook his head but Caroline could see a small smile forming around his mouth.

“Go pack your stuff, baby vamp. We don’t have forever.”

“You would think that being immortal made you rush less and not more.” Caroline said but started getting her traveling bag.

“If you prefer that I pack your bag you just have to say a word. I would not mind choosing some of you things for you.” He grinned at her which made her work faster. In no world would she let Klaus pack her stuff. In few minutes she was ready to go. She had only packed the most important things just like Klaus had told her.

“And why again are we safer in your building than in mine?” She asked him when they were seated back in the car.

“It is werewolf repellent. Just like vervain hurts vampires, wolvesbane hurts wolves. The guards at my building are compelled to shoot anybody trying to force his way into the building with silver bullets and wolvesbane. Therefore we are much safer in my penthouse than in your small apartment.”

She rolled her eyes at the mentioning of his penthouse. Of course he had one. The man had lived in a mansion in a small city like Mystic Falls. Of course he would have a penthouse here. They drove down the hill away from the big avenue into the best district of the town. The gardens as the number of districts were called were a district where solemnly the richest of the richest had their apartments. They probably had another mansion somewhere else but during the week the neighborhood was the best place to live and be relatively close to the office buildings of the major companies.

They stopped in front of a huge building with black iron gates. Klaus spoke his name into the speaker and the gate opened for them. Behind the gate there were people waiting to take the car into the parking garage. Nobody asked why Klaus had gotten a new car. They knew when not to ask questions. Caroline got out of the car and looked at the building. From closer it looked like a hotel. There was even a reception desk. Klaus asked the man for his key and said: “Do you remember Caroline?”

The receptionist looked at her and shook his head: “I am very sorry Mr. Klaus, but I don’t recall meeting her.” Klaus cursed slightly and said: “She will be living with me, so when she needs the key to the apartment give it to her.”

In the elevator Caroline said mockingly: “No rules for him to stop me leave the building? I am amazed.”

“Honestly Caroline, if you are so stupid to leave this apartment without my protection you are not worth my protection. I assume you are smarter than that.”

She decided to add nothing to the conversation but stare at the metallic door. He did not try to make conversation with her either. She was still tired and had forgotten to take some of the blood bags from her home. She hoped he would have some at home but did not think so.

The elevator finally stopped at the top floor and they got out. Klaus opened the only existing door in the small corridor and let her in. She stepped into a hallway that was as big as her living room. There was a huge mirror on the other side of the room and a big closet. There were two glass doors that seemed to lead into the other parts of the apartment. She heard him enter the room behind her and close the door. He passed her and went through the right door. She slowly followed him. She entered a living room that looked surprisingly modern but still comfortable. There were two wide dark blue sofas, one armchair in the same color and a small glass table in the middle of the room. On the other side of the room there was a huge complicated looking stereo and a big TV screen. She walked a few steps into the room and turned to the wall with the door. A painting hung on the wall. She did not recognize it but figured that it was one of his. The painting touched her although she could not tell why.

He watched her starring at the painting. “You asked me to hang it there.” He said quiet. She turned around and saw herself standing face to face with him. “We need to talk.” She said in a calm voice and he nodded. He motioned to the sofa and she sat down while he seated himself in the armchair on her right side.

“Tell me, what is going on and why I have to run from a really big pack of werewolves. What do you know about my memory loss?”

“So you finally believe me, that you lost your memory of us as a couple?” He asked her and raised his left eyebrow questioningly.

“I believe that there are a lot if things other people seemed to remember that I have no memory of. That does not mean I believe we are the couple of the millennium or that I have ever dated you. I simply cannot accept that unless I am starting to remember it myself. Now, tell me what has happened?”

“I met you in Rio shortly after you arrived. You hated the city and were disappointed of this country that you had always dreamed of. So I decided to show you this city to make you reconsider your opinion. And just like you reconsidered your opinion about this place you started reconsidering your opinion about me. In very few weeks we became closer than even I would have ever expected.” “Yes, I get that point.” She interrupted him. “But I need to know what happened with my memory. Was it one of your siblings who compelled me?” “Patience love, I was just getting to that. Please don’t interrupt me again or I might stop talking at all. So, we were happily in love when I got news from my small still existing hybrid network that there were massacres among the werewolves. Although I am currently not able to make more hybrids I prefer to keep the raw material in tact so I was definitely alarmed. I decided to look into it and return to the United States. You did not want to accompany me because you did not feel like facing your friends whom you have never told about us by the way. Very hurtful!” He pretended to be pouting but Caroline simply glared at him so he would continue the story. “Well anyway, I went back to check on the issue. From what I heard there were werewolf packs attacking each other with a number of casualties. Sometimes ten, sometimes less or more but they never reached over eleven victims. And the killing kept going on. There was never a real reason for the attacks just small quarrelings that turned into full blown wars. I was concerned. So I consulted with one of my witches. She told that she had no explanation but after a long talk, she told me that it seemed like somebody was trying to make them into a sacrifice for a ritual.” Caroline gasped. She had not expected the involvement of rituals and witches in this. Her experience of nearly being a sacrifice for Klaus was enough for her. He continued: “As you may remember a few months ago there was this tragic death of the Mystic Falls council members, as well as my misfortune with my hybrids. Only then I realized that both had been twelve. With a deeper investigation of her mind the witch told me of a different kind of magic than the one your friend Bonny has helped me so often with. A more dangerous but also much more powerful magic. Someone is trying to perform a ritual that needs the blood sacrifice of more than one species. Because the target is of more than one species.” He made a pause. Caroline stared at him and was eager to learn more: “You are talking about yourself? You are the target. But what is the connection between you and my memory loss?” He looked at her somehow looking more vulnerable than usually. “This is how it starts Caroline. Whoever is targeting me is trying to…” He was interrupted by the sound of an alarm from outside. He jumped out of his chair and ran to the window. The gate was open and he could still see people entering the grounds. He had hoped they would attack later to give him more time with Caroline but his hope had been in vain.

“We have to leave, now!” He said in a stern voice to her. She was still trying to figure out what he had wanted to say before he was interrupted. He grabbed her hand and took her along with him through the next door. They passed through a kitchen and went outside. He pointed at a staircase leading up to the roof. On the roof waited a helicopter and a pilot. He said a few words to the pilot and then opened the helicopter door for Caroline. She simply followed his motions being slightly afraid because he seemed to be uneasy and that was not a normal emotion for the hybrid. He climbed into the helicopter after her and as soon as he closed the door they started and left the building.

“Where are we going?” Caroline asked.

“To the airport. We have to leave the country. They are too well connected her. We would have to fight the wolves in every city. Damn pack!”

“And where do we go from there?”

“We are following the trail that Shane has left. And from here on it leads us towards Europe.”


	6. The coolness of the city is bursting out its seams

They were sitting in the first class of a high class airline. When they had arrived at the airport Klaus had compelled the airline attendant to give them the seats of some business men. He would have preferred to fly alone in the first class but this was not the time of luxury but of haste. Caroline had barely said a word since they had entered the helicopter. She was following him in a resigned way that he did not like. When he tried to talk to her she gave monosyllable answers or just ignored his questions altogether. At this moment she was sitting in the seat next to him and looked more tired than he had ever seen her.

“Caroline, would you please tell me what is going on?” He asked her in a concerned voice.

“I am just tired. Twenty-four hour ago I was dancing in a club and my biggest problem was my growing alcohol level. Now I am in a plane on my way to Europe, I have been shot, I have been vervained and I am hungry and cranky. Does that answer your question?” She asked snippy.

“You are hungry? Well, that can be changed.”

“I am not drinking from a human. I prefer my blood already bagged up and from a willing donor.”

“Do you think they would be willing if they knew what their blood was for? And a willing donor I can find you. I really think you should eat something. Maybe a little stewardess? She seems nice and tasty.”

Caroline turned away from him and looked outside the window not bothering to comment on his idea.

“Oh come on love, I was just joking. If you don’t want to feed than you must suffer, it is your choice.“ He motioned one of the stewardesses to come to their seats. Caroline looked up frightened.

“Are you crazy? You can’t just bite someone in the middle of all these people.” Caroline said aggravated.

“Relax, love!” He said to her and to the stewardess: “Could you bring me and my girlfriend a scotch without ice, please?” The stewardess nodded and left. “I am just trying to make this easier for you.”

“Hmpf! Calling me your girlfriend is not making this easier.”

“Fine, then suffer. At least I tried.” He said slightly angry.

They passed the next few hours in silence next to each other. Caroline could see out of the corner of her eye that he looked at her from time to time but never bothered to try to start a conversation. She was happy about it. There was some much that she had to think about. First of all she was on a plane with Klaus to an unknown place and could not have really prevented it. She had to admit that it wasn’t absolutely true. He hadn’t tried to convince her she had just followed. If she had wanted she could have stayed but with a whole country of werewolves thinking that she was Klaus bitch that may not be a good idea. Second she had still no idea what was really going on. Klaus was interrupted before he could go to the important part. She still didn’t know what had happened to her memories. She turned to him.

“What happened with me?”

“So suddenly you decide to talk to me again?” He asked mockingly.

She just kept starring at him.

“Love, this is maybe not the right place to talk about these issues. There are a lot of people around us that could be listening.”

“As if you care. You can always just compel them.”

“You know that you should not solve every problem with compulsion. There are other ways to look at your issues, if you ever feel like talking about it, don’t hesitate to call me.” He was laughing at her.

“Why do I get the feeling that you are not taking me serious? And I am not the one that should be lectured about compulsion, that poor man in the parking lot probably had to walk home.”

“As far as I remember it was you who did not want to walk. I just found a means to your end.”

“Well, excuse me that I did not feel like walking after I spent a night in a dark room with a slowly rotting away vampire and after I got shot. Oh shit,” she suddenly opened her eyes wide “I totally forgot about Pedro.”

“Who is Pedro?” He asked quickly turning his face towards her.

“Just my occasional lover. You know, nothing serious.”

He just starred at her until she could not contain her laughter.

“Miss Forbes, would you be so kind to explain yourself?” He asked slightly tense

“Pedro was the other vampire in the room. He had been there for a few weeks and was not even able to move anymore. Oh my god, and I totally just forgot him there. Unless he managed to snatch that big werewolf, of course.” She added more to herself then to Klaus. He stared at her with fascination. Over the whole time he didn’t have the time to ask what had actually happened and how she had gotten out of the prison. When he asked her now she told him how she had attacked the werewolf after he had shot her and had escaped. Secretly he was proud of her. He had seen that side in her but never without him being close by and triggering her moments. The fact that she had gotten out of her problems by herself made him feel safer. Now he knew that she was still capable of defending herself even without her memories. She did notice that he was a little bit impressed by her actions and without realizing it the feeling made her happy.

 

They landed in the cold early spring weather. The rest of their journey had been calm and relaxing. Caroline had never been to Europe but the weather was already not to her liking. When she commented on that Klaus laughed. He said, that sometimes the weather changed so fast in April that it could be pouring one moment and bright sunshine the next moment.

They took a cab from the airport to Klaus apartment. Of course he had an apartment in this city as well. He told her, that he generally preferred to stay in hotels because it was more comfortable but for their means their own home was more practical. While driving through the city she noticed many people on the street although it was late at night and rather cold compared to the temperatures she was used to now. They passed through very different districts from the slightly suburban looking outskirts of the city through to the new huge buildings in some neighborhoods until they arrived at their destination in a very urban part of the city. They got out of the cab and entered the building. Caroline was confused at the lack of security in the building but Klaus seemed to think they were safe here.

The apartment was again a penthouse but smaller than the other one she had seen before. The furniture looked a lot less personal as if someone else had furnished it. There were a few paintings on the wall but she could immediately tell that none of them was painted by Klaus.

“I’ll show you your room. You will be sleeping in the guest room.” Klaus said to her while she was still looking at the apartment. “I think we will be staying here a few nights.”

She followed him into a nice bedroom with a queen size bed that looked incredibly comfortable. She had dozed off a little bit on the flight but was still extraordinary tired.

“I’ll go out for a few hours. I have to meet some people and get myself acquainted with the scene again. I haven’t been back for a few years. I assume you would prefer to get some rest?” He asked her. She nodded and immediately let herself fall on the bed.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t wait up for me. I’ll be fine.”

“Hmm!” She answered while she was already falling asleep with her clothes on. He smiled at her and left the room. They really needed to talk but it was probably a good idea if she was better rested then.

 

She only woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee. She checked on her phone what time it was and realized that it was already past ten. She felt well rested although she had slept in yesterday’s clothes. She didn’t even remember Klaus leaving the room. She took a quick shower and changed into the warmest clothes that she had taken with her. Following the coffee smell she found him sitting in the kitchen reading a newspaper. It looked so domestic that she had to smile a little bit. He didn’t look up when she entered the room but simply said: “There is fresh coffee in the coffee maker and food and drink in the fridge.” This only reminded her that she still had not fed and would need to find a hospital as a food source. She took the cup that he had placed on the table and filled it with coffee. Then she went to the fridge to find milk for her coffee. When she opened it she gasped. There were a not so small number of blood bags in the lower shelf. She took one and turned questioningly to Klaus. Again he did not look up from his newspaper but said: “I couldn’t let you starve, could I? That does not mean that I don’t think drinking it from the vein is much better and that I am not judging you. And I will definitely not do this, don’t even think about asking.”

“Thank you, Klaus! I really appreciate this you know.” She said thankfully.

“Yeah, whatever I just came across it last night. It’s no big deal.” He grumbled from behind his paper but she could hear the satisfaction in his voice. She sat down across him with her coffee and a blood bag. Again she was astonished by the domestic look of the scene. She looked at his newspaper but noticed that is was not written in English. Still he was reading it without any visible effort.

“How many languages do you speak?” She asked him.

“A few. I picked up some knowledge along the past ten thousand years.” He grinned at her over the edge of the paper. She laughed and started sucking on her blood bag. Since he had hidden himself again behind the paper she just stretched her legs and relaxed. Suddenly she felt his legs brush against hers under the table. Not wanting to disturb the peaceful atmosphere she let this behavior slide for the moment. After she had finished her coffee and the bag he lowered the paper.

“I have to meet some people that I did not reach yesterday. Would you like to accompany me? I can show you a little bit of the city if you want.”

She looked out of the window behind him. It was raining a little bit.

“I would love that but I am afraid I did not pack clothes for this kind of weather. Do you have a coat or something for me?” He laughed: “Well, love, I am not sure if my coats will fit you but I am sure we will find something for you wear in this big city.” They got up and he called a cab. In the cab he told the driver an address that she did not understand.

“I don’t need anything fancy, you know? Just a normal coat would be fine.” She reminded him.

“Don’t worry I know just the right place.” For some reason she thought that he would still take her to a fancy store. She watched the city pass. There were so many people on the street that seemed to be from all over the world, on some houses there was amazing graffiti art and she immediately liked the mixture of building from different centuries that she could see around her.

“Why are there bears everywhere?” She asked Klaus who seemed to know the city well.

“They are the town’s landmark. Different artists from all over the country have painted them.”

They finally arrived at their destination. It was a middle sized clothing store on a nice street in what seemed to be the heart of the city. The door was opened for them and as soon as she saw them a woman in the beginning of her thirties came rushing to them.

“Mr. Mikaelson, what a pleasant surprise.” She said to Klaus in English and shook his hand. “How are you and how is your sister?”

“Thank you, Lisa. I am very fine and so is my sister. This” he put his hands on Caroline’s back “is my special friend Caroline who is a little unequipped with warm clothes. I thought that maybe you could help her out in that department.”

Lisa looked at her and nodded: “Of course I can help you. What size do you have? 36?”

Caroline looked a little confused at her: “I am usually wearing something between a 4 and a 6.”

“Well of course,” Lisa said “American sizes.” Caroline already did not like that woman and had the bad feeling that that was mutual. Maybe she had been going out with Klaus out at some time. But Klaus did not go out with human women. So she probably just wanted to go out with him. Well, Caroline thought, but he is here with me and not you. Your bad! She turned to Klaus and asked: “Are you staying here or do you have to attend other matters?”

“Don’t worry, love,” he grinned at her “I am not planning on missing the fashion show.”

She rolled her eyes at him but was a little bit content that he wasn’t leaving her alone with the unfamiliar woman. She followed Lisa into the store and started talking to her about the things she needed.

She was surprised at what a patient shopper Klaus was. As long as she kept him entertained and showed him what she was trying on. He even gave helpful advice on what looked good on her. Maybe Rebecca had pressured him into a few shopping tour over the past one thousand years and that’s how he learned to be so patient. She finally decided on some shirts, jeans, a few pair of tights, some skirts and an absolutely stunning blue coat that went down to her knees. She gave Lisa the clothes to pack up. She fished in her handbag for her credit card and looked for a cashier. Klaus was already standing at the exit waiting for her. She approached him and said in a low voice: “I still have to pay and take my bags.”

“They will take the money from my account and deliver the clothes to our apartment. Except for the coat that you should put on now.”

“Klaus, I can very well pay for my own clothes. Please, let me pay it back to you.”

“Caroline, as you have said yourself: I put you in this misery of having to buy new clothes, therefore let me please pay for them. Without me you would not need them anyway.”

She was about to protest when Lisa appeared at her side and gave her the coat. She put it on and turned to Klaus: “Well, then thank you.” Without thinking she planted a small kiss on his cheek watching with a devilish satisfaction Lisa’s smile drop for a second. Klaus looked surprised but pleased. He held open the door for her and they left the store.

 “Had I known that it just takes me buying you new clothes for this reaction I would have done it earlier.” He smirked at her. She hit him playfully on the arm. “Now, where to, master of the city?”

The rest of the day he gave her a tour through the city. At seven they met an acquaintance of him who was a witch. She did not want to stay with them over dinner so they simply had a drink together in a bar. She was not openly afraid of Klaus but clearly not his biggest fan.

“I have asked around in the local community. The man you are looking for was here but he has already left. Where to, I can’t tell you. From what I heard he took an unusual interest in some of the arts exhibited in the middle east museum. Are you familiar with the reproduction of the Babylonian procession street and the gate? My contact told me he spend some time a few years ago in the archives of the expedition and returned again for some days only a short time ago.“

“Babylon? What is he trying to learn?” Klaus frowned.

“I can’t tell you more. I don’t know more.” She hesitated for a moment. “I can tell you someone who might know more about this whole situation. But don’t tell her that I gave you her contact. She will be furious and I don’t have any intention of being drained.”

“A vampire? Who?” Klaus asked.

“Her name is Clarissa. She has been around for a very long time and dedicated her time to her studies long ago. You might find her tonight at the park. There is a party that she frequently attends.” Klaus thought for a moment. “Clarissa, you say? That name sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?”

This time it was the witch that frowned: “As far as I know you were the one that turned her. I have to go now. You’ll meet her there. Please don’t contact me again. I have a reputation to uphold and fraternizing with vampires is not exactly the right way.” She got up and nodded at them. Then he walked gracefully out the door.

Caroline hadn’t said a word during the whole conversation. Now she looked at Klaus who was still brooding over something: “What does this mean?”

He looked at her still deep in thought: “I am not sure. I think I really need to talk to Clarissa. But I doubt that she will be happy to see me. We didn’t really part in friendly terms.”

Caroline couldn’t stop herself from saying: “Yet she still lives up to this day? Why the self-control?”

“First of all, I don’t kill everybody that does not agree with me.” She snorted slightly, he grinned. “And sometimes you have to leave people alive so someone can spread the word that the alpha is in town. And finally it pays of that I have kept her alive. She kept out of my radar and I never really noticed her after we parted. Maybe it is time for a reunion.”

“So basically, we are going to meet up with one of your super old girlfriends that can’t stand the sight of you, right?”

“We didn’t really use the term girlfriend then. But yes, she was my companion for a few years roughly 600 years ago. If I didn’t know better I would say you have been jealous today. First Lisa, now this. Caroline, you are not making this easy.”

“Pf, you wish. I am just interested in not being left behind for some super old chick since I am already stuck with you.” She replied but could still see him smirking. “Oh, let’s just go. I apparently have a party to get ready for.” She got up and he followed her still grinning while starring at her back. She did have a party to get ready for.


	7. The rhythm is hardcore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline and Klaus seek answers at a party

Caroline may not have brought a lot of warm clothes but she definitely brought a dress to party. It was like a second nature to her to make sure that she always had the possibility to dress up. Suddenly she remembered that the witch had said the party was going to be in a park. That would definitely rule out her favorite red dress. Or was the park a club? She sighed; obviously she had to ask Klaus.

She walked out of the bathroom in her bathrobe not bothering to put her clothes back on. He was sitting in the living room in front of a computer. It could have been an absolute normal scene if she hadn’t known that he was already over a thousand years old.

“I always thought that old people don’t like computers and technology.” She said laughing.

Without looking up he said: “Well, and some of us elderly noticed that the modern technology can be of a lot of use. It gives you information very quickly. Not only about object but also about people even without meeting them. The things that modern people publish online about themselves are astonishing! I mean, who cares about some strangers cupcake tumblr?” She tried to think really quickly what he could find about her on the web. She should really google herself to find out. While she was still mulling over her online past he had looked up and was now starring at her in her bathrobe. Knowing what was hidden underneath it didn’t make it any easier. He hoped that she would hurry up with trusting him so they could go back to where they were before. He had started shifting in his seat and hoped she would not come nearer. There was something to see in his lap that she would not approve of right now.

“Ehm, I just wanted to know what kind of party we are going to, so I can dress accordingly.” She said not noticing the shift in his thoughts.

“The park is a rather high class club. Wear that pretty red dress that you brought. It makes you look absolutely stunning.” She wasn’t sure if she liked the thought that he knew exactly what she had in her small bag. “Ok, I mean I just packed that dress accidently. I didn’t think I would need it with you, you know?” She said quickly. “Sure, love!” He answered her with his naturaly annoying confidence.

She turned around and went back into the bathroom. She decided to take a shower, wash her hair and blow dry it straight down. After that she put on the strapless red dress that he had already seen and turned to do her make-up. She didn’t know how heavy the usual make-up for a club night was in this city so she tuned it down a little and only used some eye make-up and her favorite lipstick in blood red. Finally she decided to put her hair up after all to give herself an older and more sophisticated look.

She walked out of the bathroom towards her bedroom to get her purse and her shoes. She passed Klaus room. He had left the door a crack open and she could see into his room. She didn’t mean to pry but she threw an unintentional glimpse into his bedroom. He was standing in front of his closet with his back to the door. He had obviously just stepped out of the shower as well, since his hair was still wet and he was only wearing a towel around his hips. She could not but notice the muscles in his back that moved when he stretched to get something out of the closet. The muscles on the lower half of his back worked visibly and she could see the deepening of his spine. She found herself wondering about the rest of his body especially what was hidden beneath the towel. This thought brought her back to reality and the danger that he might turn around any second. She swiftly moved away from the door and into her room.

He smiled to himself. He had known that she was standing in front of the door taking a sharp breath. He had thought about turning around and confronting her but had rather stretched a little to show her what she was missing. At least he was sure now, that she was physically attracted to him. He took a light shirt and black pants out of the closet and put them on. He never took his necklaces of so they were already in place. He wandered into the living room to wait for Caroline to be ready.

Caroline closed her bedroom door behind her and leaned against it. For a few seconds she just inhaled the air around her to stabilize herself. She had really wanted to enter his room and just let her hands roam over his back and then maybe in the front. She didn’t know what was happening to her. Her body was acting without the consent of her mind. She was seriously concerned that she would not be able to keep her hands off him the rest of the night. Alcohol was an absolute no-go for her tonight, otherwise she could not guarantee for anything. The day had been weird enough between them with her unexpected moments of jealousy and the kiss on the cheek. He probably already thought she was absolutely insane by now.

She walked out of her room some ten minutes later and found Klaus in the living room with a whiskey glass in his hands. He looked at her and then smiled.

“May I say that you look absolutely breathtaking?”

“You have already seen that dress, so don’t act so surprised.”

“Yes, but not on you in some time.” He paused for a moment and looked at her approvingly again. “Are you ready? I have already called a taxi that is waiting downstairs.” She nodded and left the room with him following close behind her.

They rode the elevator in silence. Reaching the basement he offered her his arm for the way to the cab. She took it and they walked to the car that was waiting outside. He held open the door for her and got in on the other side. He gave the driver instruction and they drove silently through the night. In front of the club she waited patiently until he had circled the car in human speed and opened her door. Taking his hand she got out of the car and felt people’s gazes on them. Looking at Klaus who was smiling at her she had to admit that they probably made a very handsome and intriguing couple. They passed the line outside of the club but nobody seemed to expect them to wait. The bouncer let them in without asking for an ID.

“Do you know the people that own this club?” She asked Klaus in a low voice.

“No, love! But you look so absolutely breathtaking that there is no need for me to know them. You would be able to enter any club like this.” She felt herself blush slightly and heard him chuckle at her side.

The club was not too crowded yet but the people inside where a group of the most beautiful human beings and supernaturals that Caroline had ever seen. Klaus took her to the bar and ordered drinks for them. Caroline was far too fascinated to complain or think about her resolution not to drink. They stayed for a while at the bar just taking in the atmosphere. A fast song started and Caroline began to whip her foot to the beat.

“Would you like to dance?” Klaus asked her.

She really wanted but wasn’t sure if she should dance with him. As if he could read her thoughts he added: “I promise I’ll behave.” Although the wink he shot her did nothing to calm her storming thoughts. She finally nodded and he took her to the dance floor. As soon as they reached a more or less empty spot he let go of her hand. She had the urge to grab it again but ignored it. Instead she began moving to the beat and had soon forgotten all about her inhibitions with him. Klaus didn’t really dance like Caroline but he moved to the music in some way. She thought he looked a little bit lost without a dancing partner and realized that at the time he learned to dance there was no solo dancing. Before she could take his hands there was a movement in front of her and Klaus was on the floor on top of someone that seemed to struggle. Only after a short look at the legs sticking out in her direction she noticed that it was a woman.

“Clarissa.” Klaus said to the woman on the floor. “That is not a nice way to great a friend. I thought you had acquired better manners over the year.” He held a small stake in his hands that had obviously belonged to her.

“And where should I have learned them? From you?” She spat.

He got up and took her up with him. She was still struggling but could not get out of his iron grip. He looked at Caroline over Clasrissa's head and gave her a nod towards the private booths on the right side of the dance floor. She followed him and the got into the booth with the still struggling Clarissa. Caroline instinctively closed the curtain behind them. Turning around she got her first good look at Clarissa. She looked incredibly young maybe even younger than Caroline when she was turned. She had a heartshaped face and a bob haircut with spiked ends. Her hair was dyed a dark crimson. She was as pale as any of them but in her small face and with her petite figure she seemed to be an almost sickly color. She had stopped struggling and was now glaring at Klaus her expression filled with hate.

“What are you doing here? You haven’t been seen in this part of the world for a while and everybody was happy about it.” She spat at him angrily.

“Well, I was in the neighborhood and thought I should check up on you. See if you have still survived over the years.” He grinned down at her. She was at least two heads smaller than him but she didn’t seem to be scared only furious.

“You never do anything just because you want to check-up on somebody. What are you doing here?” She noticed Caroline for the first time and gave her a hard look. “And who is the darling? Did you bring her to make me like you again? She is my type, a bit tall though.” Caroline gasped but Klaus only laughed.

“Have I really ruined you for any other man? I had heard that your preferences have changed.” He was serious again. “She is with me and anyone who touches her will face fucking consequences.”

“Alright, but if you ever feel like sharing just tell me.” Before she could look at Caroline again Klaus had her pinned to the table holding her by her throat. “She will not be shared! Now, I want you to tell me something and please don’t lie to me.”

“Or what?” She said in a choked voice. “Outside there are so many of my friends that even you could not survive it and even less your girl.” Klaus starred at her and his face started changing into his werewolf side. He growled at the vampire beneath him. “Are you sure that you want to challenge me? One bite and you will die and all your friends will die with you.” She starred at him now clearly frightened. “So, it is true? You have broken the curse. I had heard rumors but I didn’t believe them.”

“You should believe them now. I won’t hesitate to bite you if you don’t give me the answers I need. Did you talk to a Professor Shane?” In Clarissa face her fear mixed with surprise. “How do you know that name?” He shook her. “Did you talk to him? Remember one wrong answer and you will suffer terribly before you die.” She closed her eyes in resignation. “Yes, I talked to him. He wanted to know if there was a way stopping you. I didn’t ask why. I supported his cause. He seemed to have some kind of personal vendetta against you. He never mentioned why he wanted to kill you so badly. I assumed you had turned his daughter or wife or something.” Klaus snorted. “I haven’t turned any human in over two hundred years. I never had much luck with my turnings anyway. They turned out to be rather revengeful.” Clarissa laughed drily. “What did he want from you? What did you tell him?” Clarissa thought for a moment. “He wanted to know how the ancient cultures dealt with the supernatural. I told him that there are no older vampires than the Mikaelson family. He said he wasn’t looking for older vampires just for older supernaturals. He was looking for something that is so old and powerful that it can overthrow you even in your hybrid state. He researched in the old expedition papers and from one day to the other he was gone. I swear I did not tell him more. I don’t know more.” She added. Klaus frowned. “Do you know what he is looking for? Why does he want to put me down?” Clarissa took a deep breath after Klaus had let go of her throat. “Like I said it seemed like a personal vendetta. And I don’t blame him. If I could I would kill you immediately but you’re just too strong.” Caroline opened her mouth for the first time in the conversation: “That would be a very stupid move.” Clarissa turned to her: “And why would that be stupid? Because that would leave you alone and unprotected. How sad!” Caroline was seriously annoyed at her snide comment. “No, because if he turned you then you will die with him. Your blood is connected. I’ve seen it happening to other vampires when his brother died. If Klaus dies your whole family of vampires will die.” Clarissa looked at her in shock then turned to look at Klaus. “Is that true? And you never felt like telling me?”

Klaus shook his head in amusement: “Honestly I didn’t know. Until this young lady and her weirdo friends came around nobody was ever a match for one of us. Just like you were never a real threat. Now that we have established that and the fact that you don’t want to die, I need you to tell me everything Shane found.” Clarissa nodded resigned: “I need to go into the archives. I need some time. There is no daylight down there so I can work during the day. Meet me there tomorrow night at eleven. I hope I will have found something by then.” She looked at Klaus who still held her against the table. “You have to let me go so I can start my research.” He waited for a moment and starred at her. Then he took his hands of her. She got up and stretched. She gave Caroline another contemptuous look and made her way towards the curtain. Suddenly Klaus jumped at her and bit her in her left shoulder. She shrieked and turned around to scream at him. “This is a reminder to cooperate. I am the only one who can heal this. If you don’t do what I told you to I’ll let you die without thinking about it.” She looked at him suspiciously. Caroline confirmed his words: “It is true. I was bitten by a werewolf but Klaus healed me. Just do what he tells you.” Clarissa looked at them once more with hate and then vanished.

Klaus turned to Caroline: “Why did you do that? Why did you get involved?” Caroline was taken aback. “Are you mad at me for that? I convinced her to help you. You would have just killed her.” She said. “I was not criticizing you. I am very grateful for what you said. You made it sound more convincing than I could have ever done. I am just wondering why did you do it?” Caroline shrugged. “I have the feeling that I am deeper involved in this than I really care to admit. You are the only one here that I know and that I trust up to some point. Also she was simply really rude to me.” She noticed how he had gotten closer to her. “Thank you for standing up to me. I appreciate your trust.” He was only inches away from her. “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Caroline said and instinctively tried to back away a little bit. He looked her in the face and their eyes met. “Caroline!” He said in a husky voice. And suddenly she was in his arms and pressing her lips against his. Only after a moment he noticed that it wasn’t him who had moved but her. He only needed a few heartbeats to respond. Although she had initiated the action he was the one taking control. He moved his lips against hers. She returned the kiss without hesitation. Her mouth seemed to move out of its own accord. He pulled her closer so their bodies touched. His hands were on her back holding her to him. She pulled her arms out of his embrace and slung them over his neck. He felt her slightly opening her mouth granting him entrance. Their kiss got heated and she buried her hands in the blonde curls on his neck. He pushed her even closer to him so she was pressed against his body. She noticed that he was a brilliant kisser who moved his tongue skillfully and invited her to play with him. She thought she wasn’t so bad herself and reciprocated his efforts. Without warning he walked backwards taking her with him. He let himself fall on the comfortable sofa behind him and let her fall into his lap. Their mouths had never left each other through the whole move. He was now moving his hands up and down the back of her dress. Sitting on his lap made her already short dress hitch up even more but she couldn’t care less.

All of the sudden his mouth left hers and started kissing down her throat. He immediately found the sensitive spot right behind her ear and starting sucking lightly. He was careful not to bruise her not wanting to destroy her pearl white skin. She moved one of her hands from his hair inside the back collar of his shirt. But she didn’t reach very deep and was in a relatively uncomfortable position. She took the hand out of his shirt and felt him hesitating slightly. She snuck her hand down in between them and wrapped it around his lower back. She felt him gain confidence again and he started putting kisses on the other side of her head. Her hand slowly moved under his shirt and she could feel the muscles that she had seen earlier during the day. When he kissed an especially sensitive point she let out a small moan that made him chuckle before he started the assault on her lips again. Meanwhile she was using both hands to explore his back muscles under his shirt. He stopped kissing her for a second and took of his shirt in a swift move. As if nothing had happened he pulled her closer and continued kissing her. She roamed freely along his back trying to concentrate on his kisses as well as on the feeling of his skin under her hands.

Suddenly they heard someone cleaning his throat behind them. “I am sorry to interrupt but I forgot my purse in here. It has my keys and without them I can’t access the archives.” Clarissa said behind Caroline’s back who suddenly realized how compromising their position must look. She was sitting on Klaus lap with her dress hitched up while he was not even wearing his shirt anymore. She started panicking. Klaus growled at Clarissa: “Take it and then leave. Immediately! Before I reconsider leaving you alive.” Clarissa gave him a smirk grabbed her pursue that was on the floor under the table and disappeared. Caroline looked embarrassed to the side and tried to get of Klaus lap. “Caroline!” He said clearly still affected by their heated make-out session. She didn’t look at him but only shook her head and he let go of her. She got up and straightened her dress. “I would really like to go home. If you have more business contacts to meet then you can of course stay.” She said to him. “Of course I will not let you go home alone. I am done here for tonight.”

He offered her his arm as they left the club but she ignored the gesture. He wondered if they had taken a step back with their step forward. They took the next available cab back to the apartment. Caroline did not look at him in the cab but kept starring out the window. He calmed down a little bit when he saw her reflection in the car window. There was a small smile on her face and she occasionally licked her lips. Maybe they had been making progress after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually love tumblr blogs about cupcakes ;-)


	8. As the city passes us

The morning brought noting interesting for Caroline. She slept in and getting up realized Klaus had left the apartment early.  She made herself a Cappuccino in the ridiculously expensive looking coffee maker and took a blood bag out of the fridge. She wasn't sure what to do with herself for the rest of the day. They were going to meet Clarissa at night when she had had enough time to figure out what Shane was looking for. But Klaus had not communicated any other plans for the day with her. Hell, he had not even left a note explaining his current absences. Finishing her liquid breakfast she grabbed her coat and decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. She was curious to take a closer look at her surroundings. Klaus had said that it was a safe part of the city and a walking around would do her some good after the party last night.

She got lost, of course. The street names sounded all the same to her and were impossible to keep in mind. To bad that a perfect memory was not part of the vampire package. Admitting defeat she stopped at a café and tried to explain the woman where she lived. She had not remembered that street name either but she remembered crossing a reddish stone bridge with small towers on top and lots of people crossing it. She was sure that she could find her way back from there. Fortunately the woman was capable of speaking english rather well. Suddenly Caroline was a little embarressed that she had never tried to learn a second language. That would definetely her next project though she should probabaly start with something easier than German. After some struggle with the right words the woman told her how to get back to that bridge. Caroline was exhausted when she finally arrived there she hadn't realized how far she had walked on her not so short stroll.

She returned to the apartment about three hours after she had left. She opened the door and walked in on Klaus blocking her way. His eyes were scrutinizing her. He did not exactly look pleased. She was contemplating whether to ask him about his obvious anger or to just let it slide this time. After what seemed like a very thorough inspection of her he visibly calmed down a little bit. That resulted in his shoulders shrinking back to their natural position but his overall facial expression was still intense.

"Where have you been?" He asked her.

"I just took a walk through the city. Who knows how long we are going to stay here. So I wanted to see as much of the city as possible." She answered confused.

"And you didn't think about leaving a note for me or something?" He inquired.

Caroline looked at him and had to suppress a laugh: "Where did you think I could have gone? I don't know anybody here."

"Exactly, you don't know anybody!" He seemed to struggle for words. "Anything could have happened to you. Too many people in this city despise me. You walking around the city by yourself makes the perfect target, don't you see that Caroline?" There was a new edge of concern in his voice that Caroline had rarely ever heard from him.

"What did you expect me to do? Stay in until the mighty Klaus comes home and finally takes me out? You didn't leave a message either. For all I knew you could have already left the country. How was I supposed to know?" She replied getting angrier by the minute. He could not just take her with him and then expect her to stay quiet and nicely at home, could he? 

"Don't be ridiculous Caroline. I would never leave you alone here."

"So you think I am ridiculous? Well, thank you very much. That comforts me so much!"

"That is not what I meant and you know that."

She gave him another glance, snored, turned around and stomped off to her room. She pulled the door shut behind her with a loud bang. He called her from the other room. "Caroline! Don't be like that!" She went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her successfully blocking him out from her hearing. She leaned over the sink and looked into the mirror above it. She was sick of being told by him what she could and what she couldn't do. She wished that she had never met him at the airport in Rio.

Suddenly her head jerked up. She had remembered meeting him at the airport in Rio when she was just about to leave the country. She had not remembered that before. She tried to focus. But all she could see was the moment she had spotted him in the small café nipping on his cafézinho watching her. She could not remember when he had started talking to her or what happened afterwards but the smile he had given her was branded in her memory.

She looked at herself in the mirror again. Despite the travel and the adventures of last night she looked good. Her hair was slightly curled as always but ruffled from the wind. Her cheeks were still flushed either from the wind or the emotional outburst over Klaus ridiculous question. Still, she had to admit that she did not look sad at all. She sighed. The confrontation with Klaus may have been unpleasant but maybe she was not right to judge him so harshly. He had really seemed to be worried about her safety. If only he was a little bit less intense about all these things. Though she had to admit the intensity only made him more like himself.  . Although she still thought that he could have left a note as well. Who said that she wasn’t worried about his whereabouts?

She left the bathroom and her own room and walked back into the living room. He was not there. For a short moment she was afraid that he had finally abandoned her when she heard noises coming from the kitchen.

Entering the kitchen Klaus was standing with his back to her looking out the window. He had a cup in his hand that oozed steam and he occasionally nipped on it.

"Did you make coffee?" She asked him in her most neutral voice.

"Tea."

"Okay." She waited for more words from him.

"I lived a long time in England."

"That explains the tea."

Suddenly she felt awkward just standing around and tried to think of something to do. Maybe she should make coffee. They still had plans for the night and she better be awake for that. The coffee maker was on his other side. She passed him and opened the coffee maker. Its water needed to be refilled. She took the container and went to the sink. He still didn't move and starred out of the window. When her arm holding the container accidently brushed against his arm he moved so suddenly that the container slipped out of her hand. In a rush he had his arms around her and his lips against hers. She could not withstand the temptation and pressed her lips back against his. For some reason she did not fully understand her body reacted automatically to his touch. Her hands went up and closed around his neck while he pulled her closer with his hands on her hips. She could feel the heat radiating from them.

All of sudden they were kissing like their lives depended on it. Her nails dug into his neck and her hands snuck into his hair. He let his hands wander along her sides and down her back while pushing her even closer to him. . His hand snuck under her shirt and caressed the bare skin on her lower back. When their tongue touched she felt an electric spark run through her body. She could not remember ever having kissed someone like this. It felt like a weird mixture between unknown and an unexplainable familiarity. Although she didn't have to breath Caroline took a step back, inhaled and looked directly into Klaus eyes. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it exhaling. Klaus was waiting for her to make the next move or to stop. He wanted her so badly but knew that pushing her would not help his cause. She seemed to think for a few seconds and said: "I remember meeting you in Rio at the airport."

He was surprised. He hadn't expected her to remember anything. He looked at her expectantly and waited.

"I don't remember a lot but I know that I first saw you in a café at the airport. You were drinking coffee and had already spotted me. You smiled and I felt…" She stopped trying to find the right words for her feelings. "I felt strange. I hadn't expected to ever see you again. At least not so fast and especially not somewhere in the middle of South America. I mean you were alone and I was alone. I… I don't know. That's all I remember." She sighed. He looked her in the eyes. "I had not left you. I waited until I could see you away from the influence of your friends and the shame they made you feel."

She had the sudden urge to fall into his arms and stay there forever. "What happened then?" When he hesitated she begged. "Please, tell me. I have to know. I feel like there is something missing from my life. I can’t continue like this without having even the slightest memory of what happened in São Paulo." He still hesitated and then let go of her. She kept her arms wrapped around his neck but he gently pulled her hands away from him but kept them in his hands. He looked down at their joined hands and when she gave his hands a reassuring squeeze he finally nodded.

"Fine, I'll tell you a little bit. But there are things that I can't tell you. You have to discover them by yourself." He pointed with his head towards the living room. "Let's sit down and talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this is just a smaller filler chapter but the next one will be longer and with a lot more action. Love, Santavica


	9. Bricks

In the living room Caroline sat down in one of the armchairs and looked at Klaus pacing the room. He wasn’t sure where to start or how much to tell her. There were aspects of their relationship she could not understand without feeling what she had felt for him. Finally he settled on a light version of their story.

He sat down on the couch across her chair and leaned back. He looked directly in her eyes. Caroline was excited and somehow frightened at the same time. He took a deep breath, finally starting to talk to her: “You are right we met again at the airport in Rio. You had been in the country for only a few days and you were miserable. You had convinced yourself that it was all a stupid idea and that you wanted to go back to your friends. I had watched you stroll through the city and go sight-seeing but you did not seem to enjoy it.” Caroline nodded. “I remember that part. I hated Rio. It was not what I had expected at all. I even remember going to the airport to look for flights but then I changed my mind. I went to São Paulo instead and fell in love with the city.”

“Why did you change your mind?” Klaus inquired. Caroline tried very hard to remember the path her thoughts had taken. But she could absolutely not remember why she had suddenly changed her mind. She shrugged: “I guess I just wanted to give the country another try in another city.” Klaus raised his eyebrow and looked at her questioningly but continued his story nonetheless. “Well, since I did not want to lose the chance of meeting you outside f your friend’s influence I decided to step in. I sat at the café where I know you would see me. You first looked like you wanted to run away but then straightened up and walked over to where I sat. You asked what the hell I was doing there and if I had followed you.” He smiled and Caroline could imagine herself walking up to him, deciding to confront him. “I told you that I was in Brazil on a business trip but you didn’t believe me. You immediately called me a liar and demanded the truth. I told you the truth that I had wanted to see you without your friends. I asked you to sit down with me and have a coffee. You hesitated but sat down in the end still staring at me in a very judging manner.” He imitated the look on her face which made Caroline laugh for a second. The look she knew was to be spotted on her face quite often felt very out of place on his. “You let me order a coffee for you and I asked you how you had liked Brazil so far. You told me about your plan to go back to the US. I claimed you that you had not even seen five percent of the miracle this country held and that you couldn’t go back without having at least seen the biggest city of the country. You laughed at me and called my attempt pathetic and that you would never go with me.” He smiled again and Caroline got the feeling that she had not acted according to her previous statement.

“We talked for a very long time and I finally convinced you to stay one more night in Rio and to go out for dinner with me. We went to a restaurant at the Copacabana and you flirted shamelessly with the young waiter.”  Caroline interrupted him. “I remember that! I remember flirting with the waiter. He gave me his number but I never called him. I can’t tell you why.” He chuckled: “Well, I would not have appreciated that. But of course you were free to call him, you just never wanted. Don’t worry,” he added when he saw her brooding expression “Nothing happened that night or ever to the waiter. I was a perfect gentleman and brought you to your hotel. I promised to show you some hidden beautiful parts of the city the next morning. I picked you up early and we drove out to the summer palest of the former royal family of Brazil. At the end of the day I had you convinced to go to São Paulo with me for a couple more days. We went there, stayed at a hotel for a few days, always at two different rooms if you must know. You fell in love with the city in those first few days. So you decided to get an apartment in the city and I moved to my already existing apartment. After you had moved you invited me to celebrate your moving.” He looked at her. “You really don’t remember any of this? Not even the day you moved to your new apartment? It was pretty special for you.” She shook her head. “I remember all these things but I don’t remember you being there. I remember that I drank a lot of Caipirinha the night I moved in but I can’t recall you being there. I was really hung over the next day and spent the day at the Buenos Aires Park.”

He nodded. “I know, I was with you that day. We lay on the grass and watched the old people talk about us. I translated for you and we laughed at them for calling me “young man” although I was at least 930 years older than them.” He stopped again and gave her a look she could not decipher. “So, that is the story of how we re-met.” She could not believe that she really didn’t remember any of this. Also he had not told her everything. She swallowed. “You said we were together. How did that happen?” He struggled with the answer and considered the best answer possible. “It happened slowly. I can’t tell and won’t tell you more. I don’t think you will really believe me if I tell you the story now. Maybe when we find out what happened we can find out how to give you back your memories.” She realized that this was the first moment that they had actually talked about her memory loss as a problem that had to be solved. Before he had just acknowledged the fact but never suggested a solution.

“Do you know what happened to me?” She asked him.

He shook his head: “I have assumptions but I have no proof for any of them.”

“Is it possible that it was one of your siblings?” She asked.

He thought about the possibility for a second. “I have considered that as well but it seems unlikely. Elijah would always admit such an act, Kol is more about directly sending a message and Rebecca may not like you very much but she has been happy with Stefan for the past few months and has other things on her mind. Like her triumph over your dear friend Elena.” He grinned. Caroline stared at him with her mouth open. “Stefan and Rebecca? When the hell did that happen?” Klaus was stunned for a second and then to her surprise started laughing. “Of course you don’t remember that either. The same day you decided to tell at least Stefan about us he decided to tell you about him and Rebecca. You conversation was probably too mixed to separate those two pieces of information. They had started sleeping with each other out of desperation but figured out they still had real feelings for each other after a while. The last thing I heard from them was that they were travelling through India.”

Caroline needed a few moments to understand what Klaus had just told her. Although she really couldn’t stand Rebecca she was happy if Stefan was happy. Therefore Elena in the end did not have to choose. Stefan made the choice. Caroline felt proud of him.

“But who else would take away my memories of being with you?” She came back to the originally discussed theme.

“Well, I know some people who would like to see me suffer. What made me wonder was that not only you forgot us but a lot of other people as well. I think it was a witch’s curse. A very strong one that put a lot of people under the spell. But some people it could  obviously not trace back like the barkeeper.”

“And my neighbor.” Caroline added. Klaus looked at her questioningly. “She asked me about the blond young man that always visited me.” He nodded. “She was probably not close enough to you contrary to your boss.” They both fell silent for a while then Klaus said: “It is late. We should get going to meet Clarissa.” Caroline had already forgotten about the other vampire they were going to see tonight. Then she remembered that Clarissa had seen them make out in the backroom of the club and she flushed. She preferred not knowing what the other woman was thinking about her but she was somehow pretty sure she was going to hear it tonight.

They departed from the apartment a few minutes later and got into the waiting cab. Caroline was still trying to wrap her head around what he had said. She had suspected herself that she had not been compelled by one of his siblings. They would have had to go through a lot of trouble to compel all these people. She still didn’t have any idea why somebody was doing this to her. It didn’t make any sense to take away her memories. Whoever did this must have known her well enough to know her friends and acquaintances and must have realized that Klaus would not just leave her alone because she didn’t remember him.

The taxi stopped in front of a brightly illuminated stone building. It looked very old to Caroline and slightly frightening. Klaus got out of the car and held her door open.

“Where are we?” She asked him.

“At the museum where Clarissa works and has hopefully found an answer for us.” Caroline suddenly remembered the wound in Clarissa’s neck, where Klaus teeth had scratched through her flesh and left his werewolf venom. She knew how much a werewolf bite hurt and could imagine the pain that the other vampire was going through. Still she didn’t feel like caring after all. It was her own fault for trying to attack Klaus and drawing his attention to her. Klaus was walking towards the entry and was calling someone on the phone.

“Clarissa! Where are you and how do we get there?”

Caroline couldn’t hear the answer but Klaus affirmed the words and hung up. He motioned her to follow him. He quickly compelled the guard to let them in and forget about them immediately afterwards.

The museum was poorly lit and the marble statues seemed to stare down at them like they knew that they weren’t supposed to be here. Caroline jumped slightly when she heard Klaus whisper in the darkness.

“Don’t worry, love, I am older than some of these artworks. I can assure you there is nothing dangerous about them.” She felt stupid for her fear and closed up to him. They walked through the museum together. “I promise you to come back with you again during the day. It is a remarkable collection of Babylonian and ancient Greek artwork.” He said to her.

They entered huge hall that was filled with the biggest and oldest piece of art that Caroline had ever seen. It was an altar that spread along the whole eastern wall of the room. Caroline could only see the numerous steps up to the platform that was surrounded by columns on all sides. She stared at it in awe and then took in the rest of her surroundings. There was a panel on all the walls that featured a relief made out of marble as well.

“This is the altar of Pergamon that was built over 2100 years ago in the ancient city. It was the pride of the city and the people of Pergamon. They thought they were invincible and made this altar to show their superiority over every other race. Of course they didn’t last. First there were the romans and then other cultures that conquered their territory. The altar got lost and forgotten until a German expedition found it at the end of the 19th century. It was shipped to Berlin and this museum was built especially for it.” Klaus explained to her.

“It is amazing that people built this kind of things two thousand years ago. So much work just to be forgotten in the end.” Caroline mused.

“It is a human thing to build places to be worshipped at. The biggest human fear is to be forgotten. We have overcome this. We don’t need monuments to be remembered. We are monuments.” Klaus voice was proud. She looked at him and he was staring at the altar with a mixture of admiration and repulsion as if he could not make himself believe what he had just said. She reached out to touch his arm and he fell out of his trance.

“Let’s go. We have to find Clarissa.”

They went into the adjacent room that featured an ancient huge gate inviting them to pass through. This time Klaus didn’t offer an explanation but just went through the gate. After they had passed through Klaus motioned for her to turn around and look at the wall behind her. She saw a different gate that was made mostly out of blue glazed tiles. In rows along the gate and on the wall other stones formed golden bulls, lions and snake like fantasies. It was hauntingly beautiful. Now she noticed that along the walls there were more of the tiles and animals that seemed to walk away from the gate. Caroline’s gaze followed the animals up the street. It was beautiful but the dim lighting made it look scary at the same time. She met Klaus eyes and smiled. She hoped that they could make the time to come back to see the wonders of this place during the daylight. The looked at each other enjoying the silent moment of understanding and peace. Then the world seemed to fall apart. Suddenly there were at least ten people around them. No, not people Caroline realized after less than a second. Vampires! They had walked into a trap.

Klaus had understood the situation even faster than she had and stiffened ready to attack. He didn’t have to wait. As soon as the other vampires noticed that they had lost the element of surprise they attacked. As Caroline had feared they assumed her to be the weaker target and mostly attacked her. She had never learned to fight and felt paralyzed for a few seconds. Then the first blow struck her and her instincts took over. She ducked away under the next blow and used the swing of the next one to get up again. Without thinking she pulled one of her attackers in front of her to serve as a shield from another attackers blow. She didn’t heasitate as she pulled her shields heart out and started on the next attacker. Klaus had meanwhile already killed the few that had attacked him and came to her aid. He broke a neck and ripped of another guy’s arms in less than a few seconds. Then he saw the one of the others sneak up on Caroline behind her back while she was dishing out kicks and hits at two vampires at the same time. But he didn’t have to worry since she turned around and ripped of the head of the attacker behind her in a fast move. She jumped over the body to give herself some space to be able to maneuver better. The two launched a new attack at her but Klaus rushed in front of them and let them run into his hands. Then he moved quickly backwards with their still beating hearts in his hands. The two vampires looked at him for a split second astonishment in their eyes and fell down.

Caroline looked around them. She counted eight dead vampires, one with a broken neck and one who was crying out for his arms that lay on opposite sides of the room. There was a lot of blood around them and on their clothes and bodies. She looked down at her bloody hands. Only now she realized that she had defeated vampires that were probably older than her. She knew that strength grew with age and she was still so young. Klaus had walked over to the still crying vampire and killed him. Then he looked at her: “I am glad that at least your body hasn’t forgotten. You did very well.”

“What are you talking about? I just got lucky.” She answered confused.

He actually had the nerve to laugh at her in the middle of the dead bodies. “No, my dear you didn’t get lucky.  I knew some of these vampires. I actually think I turned some of them. They were much older and stronger than you. But your body remembered the training I have given you on how to fight most vampires. You were very good considering that this was your first fight after losing your memory.”

He looked around and saw the one with the broken neck slowly moving and groaning. He moved over to him and shook the vampire. When the man opened his eyes he stared at Klaus face that was very close to his.

“Who sent you?” The vampire just shook his head and let out a contemptuous snore. Klaus rolled his eyes and compelled the vampire. “I am asking you again. Who sent you?”

“I don’t know. I just followed my father who told us to come here and make sure the girl dies and you get caught. We didn’t know anything else.” Klaus fell silent and then in one swift move ripped out the man’s heart.

Caroline shrieked: “What are you doing? He could have given us more information.”

Klaus shook his head: “He didn’t know more. He wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you.”

Caroline decided to let it go: “Do you think that Clarissa sent them?”

He shook his head again. “She is not an idiot. She knows that I am the only one who can heal her. But she doesn’t know how. I would have never helped her if she had you killed.” He stated. “I think we should go looking for her.” He got up and walked down procession street. Caroline followed him. They walked in silence for a few minutes until he opened a small door to their right. There was a sign saying in five languages that the access was restricted to authorized personal only.

They went down a small staircase and ended up in a poorly lit corridor. Klaus followed the corridor to the right and stopped after a few steps in front of a black door that said “Archive”. He opened the door and they entered the brightly lit room. All around them was chaos like there had been a fight with more than two people involved. On the left side of the door was the lifeless body of a vampire with a stake sticking out of his chest. A few feet away there was another body.

Across the desk lay the lifeless body of Clarissa and another young vampire. Both had a stake pushed through their hearts and their clothes were soaked with blood. The young woman was half sprawled across Clarissa’s body.

“Oh my god. Who is the other girl?” Caroline said. Klaus went over to the dead body and turned her around.

“The other girl is her assistant and lover. She turned her just a year ago out of sentimentality.” Klaus said answering Caroline’s question. He looked at the papers surrounding the two.  “She must have left some kind of note somewhere here. She always loved the written word. Look for anything that could tell us what Shane had wanted.” Caroline started going through the papers but soon realized that they were all written in German and she couldn’t understand a word.

But what she found was a purse that had fallen from the table on to the floor. It was hidden under a stack of old papers that had probably also fallen from the table during the fight. She picked up the purse and looked inside.

“Bingo!” She said. Klaus looked up from his search of the papers. “What did you find?”

Caroline held up a flat black tablet PC that she had found in the purse.

“You said the other vampire was turned a year ago. This means that she grew up in this century and was very unlikely to leave her notes on paper. I assume since she was Clarissa’s assistant she had taken the notes.” Caroline turned the device on and unlocked the screen. Luckily for them it was not password protected. Caroline opened a few applications until she found the work file. She had been right. There was a file simply called Shane and one called Klaus and some others that she could not decipher. She handed the tablet over to Klaus who opened the document. He scanned it over and then looked up at her. “It seems like we’re going to travel again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Rio but my heart will always be beating for SP.


	10. Rome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome in Rome, city of art and passion

They had rushed home quickly and packed their stuff to catch the next flight going to Rome. Luckily they had caught a flight in the early morning hours but the flight but the company did not offer first class seats. Klaus had asked her if she minded but she had argued that it was only a two hour flight so she would be fine in the normal flying class. While sitting next to him on the airplane she wondered if that had really been the smartest idea.  There was very little space in the seats and their arms constantly touched. Now that they were actually still for some time Caroline noticed the tension. She knew that the short passionate moments between them at the club and in the kitchen were only small outbursts that were going to get bigger and bigger every time they connected. She had to admit to herself that she was slightly intimidated by the fact that he obviously remembered sleeping with her but she couldn’t recall anything. She had already experienced that kissing worked very well between them but in everything else he had an unfair advantage. She didn’t even know when they had their first kiss and why she had allowed him to kiss her in the first place. Maybe she could ask but he probably was not going to tell her anyway.

Landing in Rome they had taken a cab to another one of Klaus apartments. It was in a nice downtown neighborhood full of small shops and restaurants. They had not dwelled but went looking for one of Klaus contacts that he had already called from Berlin. Klaus had not told her the name of the source nor who he or she was. Caroline prayed that it wasn’t another turned vampire or hyper into Klaus shop attendant. On meeting the person Caroline was surprised that the source was an elderly man of nearly 90 who was treated by Klaus with great respect. She was curious to know the source of this mutual respect but she was just going to have to press it out of Klaus later. Eventually he had to tell her something. She knew that even as a vampire it was difficult to earn Klaus’ respect and trust but as a human it must have been near to impossible. The man greeted them in Italian and Klaus translated his words. He was sorry, he said that he could not speak to her in her native language but he never had the time to learn English. She smiled and apologized as well for her lack of Italian. The man said a couple of things to Klaus in very quick Italian which Klaus did not translate for her. Then they both nodded and bowed their heads in respect to on another. With a short discharge that Klaus translated again the man turned around and left in the direction from which he had come. Although she knew that the man could never hurt her Caroline was slightly relieved after he had left. He had watched and observed her the whole time and raised his eyebrow when Klaus had said a sentence with her name in the beginning. After hearing Caroline’s farewell word translated he had made a last comment to Klaus in Italian which Klaus commented with a short laugh, the shake of his head and a few words in Italian. Klaus and Caroline had as well gone back to their apartment. On their way back they had only stopped to get Caroline a huge scope of Italian chocolate ice cream.

Upon inspecting the apartment Caroline found a veranda on the roof where the last light of the afternoon was warming her face and leaving a golden glow on all things surrounding her. The air was refreshing and she let the wind softly caress her face.

Klaus had stored their bags in the respective rooms and had followed her upstairs. She stood with her back to him and the sun gave her a hair a brilliance that looked like it was made out of pure gold. He remembered having seen her like this at a bar in Sao Paulo where he had once taken her before they had started being serious. The bar was on the rooftop of a famous hotel and on bright days you could see the sun set over the roofs of the metropolis. She had worn a light blue dress and he had greeted her with a small kiss on the cheek. A few days later they had kissed for the first time.

He cast away that thought. There was no use of dwelling in the past. They had more important matters to attend. He cleared his throat to catch her attention. She made an undistinguishable sound to acknowledge him. He stepped next to her and the looked together over the eternal city.

“So, care to tell me what he told you?” She asked Klaus.

“I told him our story, in PG-13 though.” He smirked while she raised her left eyebrow. “and he told me he had looked around for me. There are rumors in the supernatural community that something old has been buried under the city. We are going to look for that.”

“Maybe an unknown sibling of yours?” Caroline joked.

Uncharacteristically for him Klaus did not laugh. “No, something apparently older than we are.”

“That’s possible?” Caroline asked sarcastically.

Now Klaus did smile. “I told you before, love, now that you are a vampire you have to adjust your sense of time. We Originals do not like to admit it but we are by far the oldest thing in the world. Even werewolves have a longer history than vampires.”

Klaus had taken the tablet with him and was now translating the text on it for her. They were notes made by Clarissa’s assistant about her search for the same information Shane had wanted. He had looked for ancient stories about supernatural creatures. The people of the old ages had clearly more stories about supernatural than modern times but of course most of these stories had just sprung out of the fantasy of scared humans. But Shane had expressed interest in the Babylonian empire that reached in its greatest moments up to the Mediterranean sea and included future famous cities like Jerusalem. Clarissa’s assistant had underlined that connection. But the two vampires had gone further and made the connection to the Roman Empire and the occupation of Jerusalem by the Romans. Clarissa seemed to think that the Romans had brought something from Babylon to Jerusalem to Rome with them but Clarissa’s notes did not explain what that was. They had to figure that out by themselves.

“Who was that man to you?” Caroline’s curiosity was getting the best out of her.

“What man?” Klaus asked distracted.

“The Italian man that we visited earlier.” She reminded him.

“You mean Signore Corelli?” He assured himself.

She nodded, waiting patiently for his answer.

He snickered clearly reading her thoughts. “You should pay more attention when being introduced to people, love. Networking can be vital.”

She snorted. “Who are you? My career coach?” Again he laughed a short heartfelt laugh. “Seriously, who was Signore Corelli to you?  I have never seen you treat a human with so much respect.”

He looked at her now with a mocking expression on his face. “That is maybe because you have only seen me with humans that generally tried to kill me. Excuse me for not being very respectful then.”

She felt guilty for a short moment and laid her hand on his arm. But she would not let him stray off topic. “You’re avoiding my question. How did you two meet?”

“We met in Rome during the beginning of the 1940s. He was a young man and I seemed like a young man. The whole city was a chaos then. Everybody was afraid that the Nazis would occupy the city which they finally did in 1943. I stayed in Europe because the chaos was the best chance to hide from Michael. The young Corelli and I met at night during a raid. He thought I was a German and was surprised to hear that I spoke Italian. He begged me to help him and his lover who were persecuted by the party because they were suspected to belong to a group of partisans. I was not going to help them and neither were Rebecca.” He stopped for a second lost in his memories of that night.

“What made you change your mind?” Caroline asked.

“Suddenly we heard someone scream mine and Rebecca’s name. We knew that Michael had found us once more. I was able to hide my feelings but Rebecca’s face showed clearly her fear. Corelli looked at her and felt that he was not the only one hiding. He asked who was behind us and Rebecca told him it was our father. He motioned us to run while he distracted Michael. He of course had no idea what he was getting himself into.  He managed to distract Michael for a few minutes which gave us the chance to escape and hide away. After a few days I heard rumors that Michael had moved on to the south of the country. The next day I was walking carefully through the streets when I saw a group of men attacking a young woman. I would not have intervened had I not seen her face. It was Corelli’s girlfriend. I rushed to help her and killed her capturer’s but it was too late for her. She was deadly wounded. I picked her up and went on my search for Corelli. She was of small help since she was unconscious most of the time but I finally found him. She died within few minutes after we arrived but his face was the last thing she saw in her human life. That made him very happy. He thanked me for my help and offered me a drink. I accepted. While we talked his eyes steadily wandered forth and back to her dead body next to us. I could not see it but I saw the sudden shock in his eyes. When I turned around the former dead girl was suddenly stirring.”

“No!” Caroline whispered.

“Yes.” He affirmed. “She had vampire blood in her system. Afterwards I found out that she had sworn allegiance to a local vampire in exchange for her security which he had clearly not given her. Corelli was more than surprised but seemed to accept the fact that she was a vampire rather calmly. It was only after I took her with me to teach her how not to act suspicious as a vampire that he broke down. They saw each other only once more when he appeared on our doorsteps to ask for her. She told him whom she had sold herself to for her own safety but not his. It broke his heart. He turned around and never talked to her again. Yet still he became obsessed with the supernatural. He has been a reliable source over the years and I respect him for that.”

Caroline thought for a moment. “What happened to the other vampire? And to the girl?”

“I killed him.” When Caroline gasped he shrugged. “I confronted him about how he was using the woman and probably others and how he could be so careless and he laughed. He didn’t care and told me to… well it was rather rude. I do not tolerate disrespect and carelessness. There has to be some kind of order in the world. The girl left Rome and traveled. Unfortunately she died of the hands of an ordinary human vampire hunter in Russia a few decades ago. But Corelli and I have stayed in exchange of knowledge.”

“He didn’t really seem to like me. What did he say to you when we left?” Caroline mused.

Klaus laughed. “It was not that he didn’t like you he was just suspicious of who you were. You are the first other vampire that I have brought with me. Not even my sister has met him after our short meeting in the forties. He could feel that you were a vampire and assumed that you were a rather young one.”

“That’s what he asked you? When I was turned?”

“No,” Klaus shook his head “He asked me if I had finally trusted someone enough to turn them and I responded that you have brought this mess over yourself. I am innocent, well at least about this point.”

Caroline waited for a moment and looked at Klaus. He was sharing so much with her. Had he told her this story before? She didn’t know.

“So you talked to him about your trust issues?” Klaus looked suspicious for a moment until he saw her grin. He shrugged. “He was never a threat and we’ve known each other for a while at least for a human life. We talked quite a lot about the differences between original and ordinary vampires. He thought that my long life has stopped me from building something real for a long time. I don’t agree. I was just never interested.”

“And now an ordinary vampire like me has captured your attention?” Caroline faked pouting.

“Well, every original vampire is indeed my family and I may have my faults but incest was never one of them.” She looked shocked until she saw a grin forming on his face. She punched him lightly on the arm. “That is not funny. So I am just here because there is no other available original?” She smirked at him. Her smile faded slightly when she saw him look at her in earnest worry. “You, my dear Caroline, are way more than ordinary. In fact I have not seen a more extraordinary person and vampire in centuries.“ His hand cupped her face and she instinctively leant closer to him, looking into his eyes. “You are the only one I have shown any interest in in years. You are more than just beautiful, you are smart and funny and interesting and you can care just as well as you can fight.” He kissed her lightly on the lips.

She melted into his kiss. She couldn’t even grasp the situation. They were standing on a roof top in Rome, he was telling her how much he cared about her and they shared one of these rare movie like kisses that were nearly too perfect to be true. His other hand had snuck around her back and pulled her closer to him. She felt the well-built muscles under her hands that were now lying on his stomach. His hand still caressed her face and his thumb stroked the underside of her chin. She moved her hands around him and closed the last distance between them. There was no barrier between them except his light shirt and her bright green dress.

Within few seconds their kiss got more heated and their hands roamed along each other’s bodies. She was lost in his kiss and his caress. He had opened up so much to her in these past days. Most of the time she had spent with him she had felt genuinely happy. He cared but still let her be as independent as she had to be.

The sun had sunken over the hills and darkness was creeping up to the roof. Although she was a vampire Caroline began to feel the coolness of the Italian spring. She broke the kiss for a moment. Klaus lazily opened his eyes and looked at her.

“Let’s go inside.” She said and he smiled. He took her hand and led her down the stairs into the living room. He took her face in his hands again and kissed her with a little bit more force than before. She answered with equal force and leaned against him. Her hands went behind his neck and she began stroking the nape of his neck and burying her fingers in his hair. Their kiss became more passionate as they began exploring each other’s mouth and let their passion battle. His hands had wandered down to her shoulders and were now stroking her arms. He let his hands wander down her sides and caressed her waist and hips. She was so soft in his arms and fit perfectly into him like his missing puzzle piece. He missed having her close to him all the time and it annoyed him that he always had to wait until she approached him for them to kiss. He hoped very much that she would not interrupt them again but was still determined not to press her to anything. Still he could use the time he had her like butter in his arms. His mouth left hers and he started to kiss down her neck and until her collarbone. Her dress was cut wide at her cleavage and he kissed his way down until the hem of her dress while still stroking her neck. Meanwhile she had not been idle. One of her hands had wandered down his back and was now pressing him as close to her as possible. She enjoyed the feeling of his soft lips on her skin and moaned involuntarily when he sucked lightly on her neck. He chuckled and earned a slap on his butt for that. He looked up and she could see the mischievous look in his eyes. Maybe that had been a little too bold as a move.

He started kissing her again but this time he seemed more determined to gain dominance than before. Of course Caroline could not leave that to him and tried to win her territory back. Her hand moved under his shirt to feel his skin under her finger. Since he was wearing jeans and a dress shirt and she a knee length dress she was having the clear advantage at this point. Her other hand went to the front of his shirt and started unbuttoning his shirt. He snuck in a short breath and then smiled into their kiss a move that Caroline had to repeat. She realized that opening a shirt with only one hand, especially the left one was more complicated than with two hands. Patience had never been her virtue and she simply let her hand rip down the shirt. He growled lightly.

“I’ll buy you a new one.” She murmured. He grinned again, remembering how many times he had said this to her after ripping away some piece of clothing. She only ever really complained when it was one of her favorite dresses or the new underwear she had just bought.

She peeled the white shirt from his shoulders but was hindered by his arms on her body.  She picked his hands up from her body in a quick move and let his shirt fall to the floor. He put his hands determinedly back on her hips. Her own hands started to explore Klaus shirtless upper body. Her fingers traced his spine up his body and down over his shoulder blades. She went along his hips to the front and felt his abs contract under the touch of her hand. Her delicate hands wandered up to his shoulders where they stayed for a moment while they were still passionately kissing. She started leaving his mouth and kissing his collarbone. She licked over the prominent vein on his neck that pulsated with his blood. Her mouth descended further down and kissed his way along his skin.

Meanwhile Klaus had discovered that her dress was not online cut rather deep in the front but also had a zipper in the back. He started pulling it down a little bit waiting for her protest but she didn’t utter a word. He pulled it down until it reached her lower back. He let his hands wander along the skin that he had exposed. To his surprise she let her arms fall down and the dress slid easily down her arms until it was only held onto her body by her hips. She pulled it down her hips and it fell down pulling around her feet.

Klaus could not hold onto himself. He had to push her away a few inches to admire her. She was still wearing a matching pair of white underwear and bra and her shoes that fit to the dress.

“You are absolutely stunning. I could look at you all night.”

She grinned. “I sincerely hope that you are not only going to look.”

That was enough of an encouragement for him. He pulled her tight against him and kissed her in a slow and agonizing way. He let his hand wander down her side and her outer thigh. She immediately hooked her leg around his hips. Caroline could feel his jeans rubbing against her skin and through her delicate underwear. Before she could look Klaus had picked her up and was holding her pressed against him. Her other leg joined the first around his hips while he stabilized her with his hands under her thighs. But her hands were free and were roaming over every piece of skin that she could find. Finally she stopped at the waistband of his jeans. She let her hands wander for a few moments along his lower back until she finally snuck one hand down his jeans. She was fascinated that she did not encounter any kind of underwear.

Her hand against his backside made him decide that it was time for a change of places. Without stopping to kiss her he started walking towards his bedroom. It took her a few moments to realize that they were moving. She didn’t even want to protest. As weird as it sounded this was what she wanted and what she had been looking forward to as well as fearing all the time. Suddenly she was hyper aware of the fact that they had had sex before but she couldn’t remember. What if she had been better before she had forgotten everything?

As if he could read her thoughts he muttered: “Stop overthinking this, love. Just enjoy.”

They had arrived at his bedroom and he put her down on the bed climbing over her to keep kissing her. His hands that were now free started roaming down her body and along her stomach. He knew that there was a small spot right above her hips that gave her goose bumps and made her shiver. His mouth started exploring the rest of her body as well. He gave special attention to the valley between her breasts dying to being able to actually touch and taste her breasts again. As if she had guesses what he wished she put her hands behind her back and opened her bra. He stripped her of it and was once again in awe looking at her cream white skin and the rosé tone of the darker parts of her skin. His mouth descended on one of her breasts and he heard her take in a sharp breath. He switched between her breasts and tried to divide his attention. Her hands had found the way in his hair and were scraping his skull lightly every time he sucked. His hands found their way to her thighs and started stroking up to her sex but never quite touching. She gave the most exquisite moan that he had heard all night. Desperate to hear this sound again his right hand cupped her sex over her white panties and put just the slightest pressure on her.

That was enough for her not to be passive anymore. Without hesitation and using her vampire strength she turned them around and was now sitting on his lap. The rough fabric of his jeans was rubbing against her every time she moved. She bowed down to his face and kissed him again. Meanwhile her breasts were touching his body and she felt the same friction that she had felt when he had explored her body before. She moved a little further down from where she sat. She felt herself brushing against his under his jeans clearly visible erection. She stroked him over his jeans which caused him to moan for once. She popped upon the button of his jeans and pulled down the zipper slowly. She had been right he wasn’t wearing any underwear. Before she could tease him any further he had them rolled over again and at the same time taken of his jeans. He was now pressing against her panties clearly feeling her wetness. While he kissed her again his hand snuck down and under the waistband of her panties. She moaned into the kiss as he started stroking her lightly and putting just enough pressure on her most sensible spot that she went nearly crazy wishing he would never stop. She needed to feel him.

Her own hands started pulling down her underwear above his hand still caressing her. She pulled down the panties with her legs. He felt how she was absolutely naked underneath him. Straightening up he looked down at her and at the genuine beauty of her body. He had never seen a woman more beautiful or a woman that he had wanted any more than Caroline. They locked eyes and she slowly nodded. He felt his tip slide into her with ease and he moaned at the familiar feeling of being inside her. He entered her completely relishing in feeling her tighten around him again.

He started with slow movements not wanting to overwhelm her on what must feel for her like their first time. Soon she matched his rhythm and he started moving faster. She slung her legs around his back to get a better hold. Her hands wandered around his neck to pull him down for a passionate kiss. From there his mouth wandered down to her jaw and neck, sucking on her pulse point. He was careful not to penetrate the skin although he was lusting after her blood nearly as much as after her sex.

She felt her orgasm approaching and moaned louder. He looked up at her.

“Say my name.”

She moaned another time and he stopped his ministrations on her neck to kiss her again. With a forceful push inside of her he brought her to climax.

She finally screamed his name. The feeling of her walls tightening around him made him spiral down as well and he kissed her again whispering her name like a prayer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. Next chapter the story will continue.


	11. Interlude

Caroline woke up to the feeling of a warm body next to her or rather under her. She was sprawled across Klaus body with her head resting on his chest and her legs entwined with his. Her eyes were still closed while she was enjoying the comfortable feeling of his arm around her tugging her close to his chest.

She slowly opened her eyes and heard him giggle. She closed her eyes again thinking she had imagined the noise but when she opened them again she heard it one more time. It sounded like he was very hard trying to suppress the noise but it still came out as a rather funny giggle. Caroline looked up and put her chin on his chest. He was looking down at her and smiling.

“Did you just giggle?” She asked him chuckling herself.

“No, I didn’t. I never giggle. It is very unmanly.” He tried to sound serious but could not hide his smile.

“Are you, mighty hybrid, by any means ticklish?” She asked him laughing.

“No!” He said louder than he had meant to.

“Liar! You are absolutely ticklish.” With that she got up and started tickling his sides. He started making the giggling noise again and then started to scream. He grabbed her hands and forced them from his body while trying to turn them over. He succeeded but only for seconds since she was already rolling them back. They mingled in his huge bed for another few minutes, laughing and screaming and trying to get the other one in am especially ticklish place. Only when Klaus finally nailed her hands over her head with his pelvis pressing into hers they both became aware of the fact that they were still naked in bed.  He bent down kissing her lightly on the lips. When he took his head up again she refused to disconnect from his lips and came up again with him until the restrain he was having on her hands kept her from going up.

Klaus looked down on her. “You are even more beautiful this morning than you were last night. I didn’t think it was possible but you made it possible.” He kissed her again but this time with more force and passion. She reciprocated his kiss with equal passion and soon started moving her lower body against his. He growled into the kiss and let go of her hands to be able to touch her body. Her hands immediately went down his back and caressed his muscles. Her right hand went down to his backside and squeezed which caused him to growl again. She chuckled slightly and sighed when he left her mouth. His lips wandered down her neck and to her breasts. He could never get enough of the sounds she made as he was kissing her breasts. He licked the bottom line of her breasts around her curves and she moaned loudly. Then he made his way up to the peak where he lazily sucked. He switched to her right breast and repeated the motion. Every moan seemed lovelier than the one before. He knew exactly where to kiss her to make her feel the bliss again.

His mouth descended deeper down her body. His hand had until then steadied her on her hips but now went down with his head over her hips down to her thighs. She could feel that he was getting closer to the center of attention. But when his mouth finally reached its destination she was sure she would never be as happy as in that particular moment. He was switching between licking her folds and sucking her center. Occasionally he would just kiss her and then without warning suck even harder. She moaned his name over and over again urging him not to stop, never to stop.

His hands had wandered to the inner sides of her thighs and had started caressing the soft skin between her legs. Suddenly his right hand wandered up to aid his mouth on its journey to pleasure her into oblivion. She felt how his finger entered her while his mouth was still working its magic. Then she didn’t remember anything for a few seconds the pleasure of her climax overwhelming any other feeling in her body. When she came down from her high he was still kissing her folds and was smiling. He knew he had just given her a mind-blowing orgasm but he was not going to end here. He heard her whisper his name. He looked up and saw her still lust filled face.

“Yes, love?”

She reached down with her hands but could only reach his head. Since she did not want to pull him up by his hair she lifted her upper body up and grabbed his left hand. He let her pull his body up and she kissed him passionately. She pushed him on his back and before he could even react she had settled down on top of his thighs. His erection was pushed to his stomach waiting for her. When she finally took him in her hands he was sure he had never felt anything more amazing. Until she lowered herself down on him and let him enter her. His hands immediately went up to her hips to support her movements. She started a slow rhythm and got faster after getting comfortable. He approached his climax quicker than he had expected and lifted up to meet her face. With a passionate kiss he finally came inside of her. She kept kissing him and pushed him down on the bed again. She positioned herself just as entangled as they had woken up some time ago. While he held her close he could hear her purring like a cat.

“Let’s just sleep a little bit more.” She whispered yawning. He nodded and closed his eye. Hopefully he would wake up like this again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They will explore Rome in the next chapter. Reviews are appreciated. Love, Santavica


	12. Skulls and Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline and Klaus finally find somebody to talk to - more or less

Caroline woke up again a few hours later. She was alone in the huge bed although she could hear the water running in the adjacent bathroom. She rolled on her back and stretched her arms over her head. She was utterly content where she was right now. All thoughts of her memory loss had left her last night and she was not willing to let them come back just right now. She still had no idea what was between her and Klaus nor what had been but in this particular moment she couldn’t care less for any of it.

The water stopped running and Caroline heard Klaus climb out of the shower. Immediately her imagenation started running wild. Water pearling from his stomach, while he was drying his hair with one of the white towels she had spotted earlier his eyes slightly closed. Only thinking about it made her want him again. She looked at the clock on her right side. It was already eleven in the morning. As much as she would like to stay in bed with him for the rest of the day it was probably not the plan for today. Just when she had decided to get up and to go to her room to get dressed he walked out of the bathroom. Just like in Berlin he was simply wearing a towel around his hips that hung deliciously low.

“Good morning, love.” He said grinning.

She swallowed shortly. “Good morning. Are you coming back to bed?” She patted the empty sheets next to her giving him her most smoldering look.

He laughed happily but shook his head. “If I got into that bed with you now we would not be leaving it for as long as we could stand.”

“So?” She grinned and winked at him.

“So, we have some work to do today. But” and he was suddenly standing next to the bed and was lowering herself above her “when we come back I will keep you here for a very long time.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Now, get up and put on clothes. We have a lot of work today.” He lifted up and turned around to his wardrobe. Caroline slung the linen around her and went to her room. He was probably right but already the thought of the night was arousing her. Oh, the perks of being a vampire. She really wished that she could simply ignore her memory loss problem.

After she had showered and gotten dressed she gulped down quickly two blood bags while he was waiting for her to get ready. She wasn’t exactly sure where they were going. She had thought that there were only so many catacombs in Rome but Klaus had corrected her. Apparently the whole city was undermined with catacombs some of them dating back more than two thousand years. They were going down into the Catacombs of San Callisto from there they were going to find their way to the chamber they were looking for. Caroline had printed out a map that they had found on Clarissa’s tablet. With the help of Klaus human acquaintance they had located the matching place in Rome. The catacombs that were shown on the map were not free for public access. Even an archaeologist had to get a special permission from the Catholic Church that ruled over the different catacombs within the walls of the city. But Klaus was not going to ask for permission. They were going to enter the catacombs in a legal way by the entry near the Via Appia Antiqua and would find their way from there.

While they were standing in line for the catacombs, Klaus couldn’t believe he was really waiting and paying but Caroline had insisted. To shorten the time waiting she asked: “Have you ever been down there?”

He shook his head: “No, why would I? The burials of early Christians have never been exactly my field of expertise. Neither have any other form of burial been. It is simply not something that interests me.” Caroline could hear the smirk in his voice and the lack of interest he had in regard to human traditions and customs.

“So you have no idea what we should expect?”

“Bones, skulls and probably a lot of stones and dust.”

She realized he was not going to give her a satisfying answer so she turned around to find a tourist guide. There was a young Italian man who was handing out leaflets to tourists explaining the catacombs to them. Caroline went straight to him with Klaus’ gaze following her every step.

She smiled at the tourist guide. “Hi, I was just wondering if you could help me.”

He smiled back at her and ignored the elderly women he had just talked to who clearly had some more questions about the safety of the catacombs. “I hope so. What is it that you need help with?” He asked her in slightly accentuated English.

“I am here with my friend” she could immediately feel that Klaus had moved closer “ and I have to admit we are not very well informed about what will await us down there. Maybe you could give us a bit of an insight on that.” She gave him another brilliant smile which he returned.

“Of course I can do that. Have you ever been to any catacomb before?”

“No, I haven’t.” Caroline answered truthfully.

“I have.” The young Italian jumped when he noticed Klaus who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and was now staring at the guide as if he would love nothing more than to tear him into tiny bleeding pieces.

“Well, they are ancient graves that were built nearly two thousand years ago. In the Catacombs of San Callisto many of the earliest second to fourth century popes were buried. Unfortunately they have been moved over the centuries but there is still a very impressive art collection of early Christian fresci and other paintings.”

Caroline nodded. “That sounds very interesting.”

The young man was obviously trying to impress her and added in a more mysterious voice. “The early Christians also used this catacombs for their secret meetings. They hid from the persecution of the Roman empire.”

Klaus made a snorting noise. “That theory is already been proven wrong. There were no secret hiding holes that the Christians used. At least not in the catacombs which are not very practical to hide in. Just in case you were wondering.” He gave the young man a cold mocking grin.

While they went back to where they had waited Caroline scolded Klaus. “That was absolutely unnecessary. He was really scared of you.” Klaus seemed absolutely unimpressed by her argument: “He had it coming. And honestly people will always be afraid of me. Most people sense when something is as extraordinary as I am.”

“But you don’t have to rub it under their noses, do you?”

“Honestly Caroline, part of being a vampire is rubbing it under people’s noses that you are special and they are not. It is one of the many great things of being the way we are.” He snuck his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He leaned his head towards her ear and snickered. “Although I am pretty sure you were already special when you were still mortal.” Caroline rolled her eyes at him but still could not hide a smile. “You are such a suck-up sometimes.” He actually laughed at her remark. “Only to you, love. Only to you!”

Finally they reached the end of the line. They followed a group of young Australians into the cave. There were two siblings in front of them that were constantly bickering with each other.

They went down a massive amount of stairs until finally reaching the deepest level of the caves. The tour guide in front of the group explained some of the history of the place but Caroline was barely listening. She was capitaved by the place but it wasn’t an entirely positive feeling. She had never been at a place where death was so imminent yet where she herself had felt so wrong. It was like every nerve in her body was telling her to leave this place because she didn’t belong here. She turned around to Klaus but he seemed completely unaffected. Maybe he was simply immune to the lures of the catacombs. Still she had to ask: “Can you feel that?” She had whispered so low that only he was able to hear it.

“Feel what?” He asked confused

“This feeling of being absolutely unwelcome and being pushed to leave this place as soon as possible.” Caroline shuddered.

“I can’t feel anything. But this is a good sign. This means that we are on the right way.”

She wasn’t so sure about that but she trusted him. He had experienced so much more in his life than she had. He was probably right about this. She nodded and they quickly followed the group that had been walking ahead. After a few minutes they turned left and after a few steps Caroline felt that the pressure was lowering on her.

She took a deep unnecessary breath. “It is weirdly better here. The air around here feels much less hostile.” She tried to explain in lack of a better word. He nodded and turned his head around. He looked behind them but she could not see what he was looking for.

They were moving forward now and Caroline felt better from minute to minute. After a while she started feeling normal until they turned two more corners and were walking again towards the source of that feeling. After a short time she felt a shiver ripple through her body. She grabbed Klaus hand to hold herself steady for a second. He squeezed it. She was glad when they reached another crossway and the group turned left. She was about to follow them when Klaus held her arm.

“I think we have to go towards your feeling. It seems to be vampire repellent but it will lead us directly towards the source.” She starred at him with her eyes wide open. “I am not sure I can do this. It is already very unpleasant as if something is trying to control my mind to turn around.”

He took her by the shoulders and turned her around so she would look into his face. “Caroline, I am here with you. Nothing can happen to you. If you say it is too much we can always turn around. I promise you.” She knew he would protect her from anything. So she nodded slowly but determined.

The group was long gone and had left them behind. With one last glance behind them Klaus slipped under the tape forbidding anyone to enter. He was holding her hand strongly in his and so Caroline followed him hesitating only slightly.

Although she had thought they had already arrived at the lowest level they went down another staircase. The lower they went the higher was the pressure in Caroline’s head. Finally arriving at a flat floor she looked around. In this part of the catacombs there were still some skulls and bones that lay lifeless on the alcoves. Caroline was not scared of the. She knew they were dead just like her but she was much stronger than they were ever going to be again. But the steadily increasing feeling of being unwelcome scared her. Klaus went ahead towards the only existing corridor and against her feelings Caroline followed him. He was still holding her hand which gave her a certain amount of confidence. After a few minutes of further walking they had reached a parting of ways. Even with their heightened senses they could not look very far down into the corridors.

Klaus turned to her: “Which one shall we take?”

She shrugged: “I have no idea. How should I know?”

“Which one feels better?”

She suddenly realized what he meant. They would follow the corridor that made her feel less comfortable. Although everything in her was working against that decision she went down the left corridor first. After a few steps she felt the pressure decreasing. She would have loved to go further down that road but made herself turn around and return to Klaus. She motioned with her hand down the other corridor. He took her hand again and went down the path on their right. To her it was starting to get difficult to even take a breath or take the next step. Her feet had grown heavy and her head was buzzing. Shivers ran down her spine and just didn’t stop.  After a few more steps she started shaking. Klaus was clutching her hand stronger and kept going. Her airways felt like they were on fire. Her head was buzzing. She started to see dark marks on her eyes. Everything was spinning. Still she kept walking. She only made it another five steps before she had to stop. “I can’t. I can’t go further. It hurts. It hurts so much.” Her knees were giving out underneath her. She sank down her hand still clutching his. Suddenly being mortal sounded like a great idea. Just to get away from the feeling. She started to crawl back the way they had come.

Klaus pulled her closer to him and bowed down to where she was kneeling on the floor: “Caroline, you are stronger than this. I know you can do this. It is for you! This the only way to get your memories back. Please, get up.” She let herself be pulled upwards by his strong grip. He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Please, go on.” She made a pathetic whining noise that he did not understand but she started walking again. Every step was more difficult than the one before. She struggled every second and she was happy that she didn’t have to breathe because it became absolutely impossible for her. It was like her heart had decided to only pump her blood in half the normal tempo through her body but had grown about three times its size at the same time. Her chest was hurting and so was nearly every other muscle in her body. Her head felt weirdly empty and heavy at the same time as if there was only iron in it but no real brain. She could not think straight anymore and her vision was now disappearing completely every few seconds. She stopped again. “Klaus!” She half whispered half screamed. He stopped again and turned around. He could see her misery but was not feeling any of it. He wished he was able to share her pain.

“Caroline, be strong. I know you can do this!” He tried to beg her but she shook her head and let her body slide to the floor again. He kneeled in front of her and looked at her. “Caroline, please!” She shook her head again and let her chin fall to her chest. He took a deep breath and put his hand under her chin. He lifted her head up and looked her in the eyes. Despite the heaviness in her mind she immediately knew what he was going to do. How could he! But when his pupils started dilating and he spoke to her she lost every thought of her anger.

“Caroline, calm down. You will not feel uncomfortable anymore. You will feel better but you will still guide me. I am sorry that I have to do this but it is the only way for us to get closer to the solution. I never wanted you to get hurt. You have to believe me. I am sorry for doing this. I promise I will make it up to you. Now please, get up!”

Caroline got up without uttering a word. She was half aware of what had just happened but was not able to be mad about it. Deep down she knew that she did not want to do what she was doing right now but his will was stronger than hers. She started walking again and this time he followed her. After a few minutes it became clear that he would not have been able to find his way without her. There were many crossroads and places were the way was divided. They went through small halls with more than one exit or entry. She always felt which way to go although she could not tell anymore how she was doing it. She knew that she felt weaker but his will in her kept her going.

They had walked for a while when she suddenly stopped. They were standing in front of a wall. Caroline nodded towards the wall. “The feeling gets stronger here.” She said with a small voice that was nearly not audible. Klaus looked at the wall. The catacombs in room were built of volcanic stones that were easily breakable. He mounted his hand into a fist and knocked against the wall with all his power. To his surprise he went straight through the wall. It was merely one inch thick and he was easily able to make the hole bigger. The air coming through the hole smelt old and stale as if it had been the same air for thousands of years. After a minute the hole was big enough for him to climb through. He motioned Caroline to follow him. It was pitch dark inside. Even their vampire seeing was no help to them. The small amount of greyish light that was coming through the newly made hole was not strong enough to illuminate the room.

All of the sudden a bright light lit up the room. There seemed to be a fire in the middle of the room but it was flying above the ground. Caroline blinked and tried to look through the fire. She could make out only shades but there was definitely someone with them in this room. As fast as the fire had started it diminished again. It scattered around the room and turned into little fire islands.

Now they were finally able to see what could only be guessed before. On the other side of the room stood a woman. She was wearing a long dark dress and had flaming red hair that seemed to come alive in the flickering light. Her eyes were closed and her face was in an expression of pain although Caroline could not see what caused that pain. Then she saw that her hands and feet were tied to the wall with what seemed like the medieval version of handcuffs.

Klaus was staring at the woman as well. He did not understand this. He had expected some kind of artifact or a sign that would help them but not a helpless woman. Although looking at the fires he suspected she was not as helpless as she looked.

Suddenly the woman began to speak. Her voice was very female and had once probably been like pure silk but was now hoarse as if she hadn’t used it in a while. “What are you doing here immortals? How did you get here?”

Klaus ignored her questions: “Who are you?”

She laughed a raspy laugh. “You have found me but you don’t know who I am? Then why did you come looking for me?”

“We are looking for a cure.”

“A cure for immortality? Why would you want that?”

“No,” Klaus said loudly, “we are not looking for a cure for immortality. But our enemies are looking for it to destroy us.”

She stayed silent for a while. “I can sense that you are old. Not as old as I am maybe not even half my age but you seem to be more knowledgeable than most. A cure for immortality is not something you should be wishing for as an immortal being. It can poison your thoughts and make you weak.”

“I am not looking for a cure for immortality. Now tell me, who you are!” Klaus demanded.

She laughed again her throaty laugh. “You are in no position to demand anything from me. But I will tell you anyway because you are the first being that I have seen in many centuries. I was once a witch just like many others but my name is long forgotten. I was born in Jerusalem over two thousand years ago. I could tell you stories about these times that would cause uproar in the whole human world. I was naturally very powerful and came from a long lineage of witches. My ancestors helped built many of the seven world wonders of the ancient cultures. They watched Babylon rise and fall, the Egyptians fight for dominance and the Greeks invent democracy. My gift was a sight into the past and into the near future. But I was greedy. I wanted to have all the knowledge of my ancestors. So I cast a spell that used a human blood sacrifice. It helped to feel the life energy of every person. I could tell when they were nearing their death date and when fate was going to capture them. My sisters were terribly angry with me and banned me into a tower for five years. But what is five years if you have the knowledge of hundreds of generations of witches. I became more powerful than any of my sisters in those years and when they finally let me out it was only in fear of what would happen if they didn’t. I had perfected my magic during those first dark years, so they were too afraid to even try to overpower me. I lived a long life and cast a spell before I died. I had found a young witch who was talented and after I died I slipped into her body. Her soul went into the oblivion instead of mine. That was the first time but I kept going. Every time my body grew old I went looking for a new witch with a long life span. I should have known that this one was going to be my downfall. The years I was able to feel in her were longer than I had ever experienced. But I was proud and thought I could use it to my advantage. But after a few generations my fellow witches had become suspicious. Maybe I didn’t kill one of the witches’ souls whose bodies I used entirely or someone started noticing the same patterns in my actions. Finally they figured out what I had done and they called me an abomination of our race. They brought me down here and made sure I would neither escape nor age as long as I was down here. They founded an order that looked after me and told me about how the world was changing. That is how I learnt of the new race of vampires and of their fight with the werewolves. I assume you are a vampire?” She asked.

“Yes, I am the oldest vampire. My family is the original vampire family.”

“Interesting, you see, I have never met a vampire before. I have indeed never met any creature that was not a witch since I have been imprisoned here. They made sure of that. Is it true that only a stake through your heart can kill you?” She asked curiously but before he could answer her she dismissed the topic. “But you just walked in here and looked absolutely fine. On the contrary to your young friend, if I may say so. I can hardly feel her life force.” Klaus whirled around to look at Caroline. She had fallen to the floor where she had rested her head against the wall and had her eyes closed.

“Caroline, no!” He stormed over to her. She was not dead but she was barely conscious. He looked between her and the witch that still had her eyes closed. It was difficult to tell from the distance but she seemed to be smiling.

“What is happening to her?”

“She may not be able to feel it any more but the spell the witches cast is slowly killing her. You pushed her to hard. She is not going to survive much longer.”

He looked at Caroline. “Please, just fight a little bit longer.”

He turned back to the witch.

“Tell me how to defeat someone who wants to raise the dead.”

“Who does he want to raise?”

“Silas.”

Even the witch seemed frightened for a short moment. “You can’t let him do that. He is going to destroy everything. The witches have bound me here forever but I am still one of them. He wants revenge for what was done to him. None of them will survive and the balance of the world will be lost. You cannot let that happen. You have to stop that person. The ritual they would have to use will spill too much blood. The balance can never be restored. They will have to sacrifice twelve of each race. You have to stop them!!

Klaus nodded. “How can I get her memories back?”

“I can’t help you. Only the witch who cursed her can do that spell. But I can tell her that the witch who cursed her is from my lineage. The last name that I know of that my people had were Marand but that is over three hundred years ago. They stopped coming here a long time ago.” She hesitated as if she wanted to add something but then said. “You have to leave now if you want to save her. She is fading. I can feel her force slipping away from her. You can’t help me and I can’t give you any more information. I am bound by witch spell. If you ever come across a witch of my lineage tell her I am here and I am asking for forgiveness. ”

Klaus scooped Caroline up in his arms. Before he stormed out he turned around.  “Thank you.” Then he was gone. He was faster than the wind and remembered perfectly the way they had come. Caroline was not moving in his arms but he could still feel a tiny bit of her life force left in her. He finally arrived at the crossing where they had left the group. He let them slide to the floor, held her in his arms and looked at her. She was still not moving.

“Caroline, come back. Please, I am sorry for what I had to do. It was not right. But I can’t lose you now that I just have you back.” But it didn’t matter as much as he pleaded and begged Caroline did not move or showed any other sign of life. He saw a small water drop fall on her face and realized that he was crying. He had not cried for anybody in a very long time. He hugged her closer and stroked her back, hoping that she would awake from the touch.

The noises that came from the corridor to his left where distracting him. The two Australian siblings had obviously also left the group and where now exploring the catacombs on their own. They only saw him coming when he was already too close for them to run. The last thing the saw in their short lives was his vampire face maddened with pain and self-hatred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit not good...


	13. Interlude

He had never understood funerals. When he was still human the dead were honored but it was clear that their death had been for a reason or because of fate and people didn’t cry after their dead. Today’s society was never confronted with death anymore which made it so difficult for people to say goodbye and to let the dead rest in peace. He had never mourned anybody. The people that had died in his life where either not memorable or had tried to steal his own life away. His father, his mother, his brother Finn the list of people he had once cared about that had passed away was short. Most people he had seen dying he had killed himself because he had felt an insatiable hunger to kill them. Something had been given to him already as a child. The knowledge that you would only survive if you were willing to put your life above everybody else’s was branded into his brain.

  
This was the way he had survived for so many centuries. He had sacrificed lives to save his own, to make a statement or sometimes simply out of the pleasure of being this powerful. He had never felt remorse. Even the moment he had killed his hybrids he had only felt the slightest regret. They were so fascinating creatures the way they obeyed all his rules and just couldn’t live without a leader. To his dismay and to their misfortune they had chosen his futile first hybrid over him. He had paid him back with so many souls that were now gone from this earth.

  
He looked down at the funeral again. People were mourning. He didn’t feel anything. Maybe he wasn’t a changed man after all. Maybe he was still as cold and as power hungry as he had always been. There were flowers everywhere. He would have chosen different for a funeral. If he had planned it but of course nobody knew about his involvement and he was sure nobody would ever know. If he had been planning a funeral he would have chosen blue flowers and not white ones. Blue like the heaven on a dreary cold winter night in the cold northern times when he was still living. He smiled inside although his face kept its serious expression. Caroline would have scolded him and told him that some things were simply tradition and that he had no right to pretend to know everything. The smile in him vanished as fast as it had appeared. He turned around and left the spot from where he had been watching. He had nothing to do here and he knew it. He had a witch to hunt and he knew exactly which lineage he was looking for. 


End file.
